Clark Construction Group and HKS have broken ground on the FBI Innovation Center in Huntsville just eight months after commencing design. Clark-HKS is serving as the design-build team on the project.
The Innovation Center is located at Redstone Arsenal, where the FBI is building a 243-acre campus to strategically realign the bureau, build its capabilities, enhance its training programs and tap into the talent pool in the region.
The 250,000-square-foot Innovation Center will be dedicated to cyber threat intelligence, data analytics and training to combat emerging threats. The three-story building will include office space, auditoriums, “collision spaces” for learning encounters, and specialized training spaces including a kinetic cyber range and a virtual reality classroom for agents to test and apply their skills and tools in real-world settings.
“The Clark-HKS team is excited to be delivering such an important facility that will enhance the intelligence community’s capabilities to keep our country safe,” said Keith Couch, senior vice president overseeing the design and construction efforts on the project. “We look forward to not only supporting our national security efforts, but also to contributing a project that is so important to the local Huntsville community.”
The Clark-HKS work also will include a central utility plant, dining facilities and an outdoor quad for the FBI’s new Science and Technology District. The completion of the project is slated for 2023.
The FBI’s Huntsville expansion, an estimated $1 billion investment, will ultimately include six buildings on nearly 1,600 acres of land on the arsenal, according to initial news reports in late 2019. The project is expected to bring thousands of additional jobs to Huntsville.
The FBI has had a presence in Huntsville since 1971 when the Hazardous Devices School opened on the arsenal. Since the school’s opening, the FBI has added two more facilities, the Ballistics Research Facility and the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center.
