Announcing Cole’s Vice President of Engineering for Accessibility

Cole is pleased to announce that Melissa Anderson has joined our staff as the Vice President of Engineering for Accessibility.

Prior to joining Cole, Melissa worked at the US Access Board, serving as their Transportation Engineer, developing accessibility guidelines and assisting Federal, State and Local Agencies in meeting their obligations to provide accessible facilities for people who have disabilities. Her work involved refining the proposed Public Right of Way Accessibility Guidelines, updating the Transportation Vehicle Accessibility Guidelines and leading the Rail Vehicles Access Advisory Committee. Melissa also continues to participate as a subject matter expert on several research panels and remains a member of two committees for the Transportation Research Board.

Prior to her work for the Access Board, she was employed for 10 years with the Missouri Department of Transportation, where she was involved in traffic and safety data collection and analysis, research, standards development, and professional services procurement. Melissa became the statewide non-motorized transportation engineer, where she was responsible for developing pedestrian and bicycle policy, training staff and local agencies, and reviewing plans for accessibility.

Previously, Melissa also worked for two small local agencies on a wide variety of projects including water and waste water design, managing street and sidewalk programs, review of residential and commercial developments, and long range planning and zoning updates.

Cole is excited to have Melissa lead our ADA Team, providing expert guidance and working with our clients to understand their obligation to provide accessible facilities. We look forward to sharing her skills with our partners in the evaluation of their existing infrastructure and development of State and community transition and prioritization plans and accessible pedestrian networks.

Olin Business School Dedication Ceremony

Washington University celebrated the new Knight Hall and Bauer Hall last Friday at a very well attended ribbon cutting and building dedication ceremony. This major expansion was constructed adjacent to the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center on the current site of Eliot Hall and nearly doubles the size of the Olin Business School on the Danforth Campus. A striking glass atrium links two five-story state-of-the-art buildings which provide 175,000 sf of new program space. The $90 million project integrates seven classrooms, an auditorium, 75 faculty offices, numerous forums, lounges, offices, and spaces for interaction and collaboration.

Cole’s primary responsibilities included design of the storm and sanitary sewer systems, site grading, design of Best Management Practices (BMP’s), ADA accessibility, and coordination for LEED certification. The project also encompassed several ancillary efforts to accommodate the expansion. This consisted of a stair tower addition with a fully functional green roof which can be used for gathering space at McMillan Hall, additional labs and classroom space, and a new pedestrian plaza to create a cohesive new identity for Olin Business School. We worked alongside a talented team which included Tarlton Corporation as the Construction Manager; Santa Monica, CA, based Moore Ruble Yudell, Architect-of-Record; local Mackey Mitchell Architects, Associate Architect; KPFF, structural engineer; and mechanical engineers of Buro Happold and William Tao & Associates.

Cole is honored to continue our collaboration with Washington University on this and many other campus projects. We’re proud to contribute to the resources and spaces that build momentum for the students, faculty, and alumni.

Stribling Hall Receives LEED Silver Certification

Stribling Hall at the Missouri Military Academy (MMA) has recently been awarded LEED Silver Certification by the United States Green Building Council. Cole worked with M+H Architects on the demolition of existing Stribling Hall and construction of a new 6,000 SF building and improvements to the main entry of the campus and drop-off area. Cole’s contribution to LEED Certification included a stormwater pollution prevention plan, calculations for dedicated open space, drought tolerant native landscape design, and a tree shadow study complete with the selection of highly reflective paving materials. Our additional responsibilities included site grading, storm and sanitary sewer design, AutoTurn analysis, and consultant coordination for geothermal well layout and associated piping.

Ensuring that our projects endure through smart and skillful design and implementation is an intrinsic part of what we do here at Cole. Whether it’s water quality, material reuse, or energy efficient construction methods, we incorporate sustainable practices wherever possible. Our success lies in allowing sustainable elements to drive design decisions and subsequently integrate seamlessly with the built project. Stribling Hall, which was completed in early 2012, is the 10th LEED Certified project on which Cole has worked and the second on the MMA campus.