MMM Design Group was selected for the design of all the building facilities as part of a major new marine container terminal in Portsmouth, Virginia. MMM provided all civil engineering services for the site, including new pavement, utility connections, and stormwater.

The $450 million terminal, which took four years to complete, was developed along the Elizabeth River and covers 300 acres of land. The deepwater container facility is expected to move over 500,000 container units per year and now serves as the largest privately-built terminal in the United States.

Based upon its extensive design experience, MMM Design Group was selected to design 12 buildings and canopy structures for this new marine container port complex, totaling 173,249 SF and $37 Millon of new construction. Special attention was required for the design and construction administration of the 83,449 SF state-of-the-art Terminal Operations Building, which is now the premier port operations headquarters facility on the East Coast. Another major building was the 40,900 SF Vehicle Maintenance Shop requiring exceptional construction management because of various industrial configurations to support the terminal’s around-the-clock operations and equipment maintenance needs.

Salient design features include 20,000 SF of operations and control centers. These centers plan, monitor, and control all movements to, from, and throughout the yard, including ship and rail movements. RFID, barcode scanning, and 3-axis remote-controlled television cameras feed into the terminal computer network to ensure assets are available and to deconflict potential system delays during port operations.

The control center layouts are custom configurations that accommodate individual and collaborative work practices. They enable ad hoc meetings of representatives from different work groups to quickly convene and resolve issues without disturbing on-going operations. Center layouts are intended to provide effective but unobtrusive supervision, while allowing quiet and clear communications.

The Maintenance Shop design makes innovative use of translucent fiber-reinforced plastic wall panels that evenly diffuse natural daylight within the building. A clerestory adds ventilation and additional daylighting that is complemented by the use of light colors on walls, ceilings, and exposed structural members.