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Architect finalists pitch jail design as Carroll County commissioners press on schedule, costs and oversight
Summary
Two finalist teams — GMC and Nelson Worldwide — presented competing designs and delivery plans for Carroll County’s combined women’s jail, mental-health unit and sheriff’s offices. Commissioners focused questions on CM-at-risk liability, errors-and-omissions exposure, contingency budgeting, onsite oversight and an aggressive schedule that Nelson proposed to reach GMP in September and start construction in April 2027.
Hillary Morgan, vice president of justice at GMC, and Karen Sikner, studio director for Nelson Worldwide, each gave 20-minute presentations and answered commissioners’ questions during Carroll County’s architect selection work session. The presentations outlined firm experience, design approaches for a combined women’s jail and behavioral-health unit, and different delivery and oversight practices.
GMC, represented by Morgan with engineers Kurt Bridges and John Bass, framed its pitch on local relationships and a multi-disciplinary justice studio. Morgan said GMC uses BIM/Revit-based QA/QC, offers VR mockups for staff review and provides weekly construction field reports. GMC highlighted a string of correctional projects in Alabama and Georgia and told commissioners its contingency and coordination approach kept net change-order values low in certain contracts; Morgan said one multi-institution ADA upgrade program produced a net change-order value around 1 percent and credited early allowances and contractor coordination.
Nelson Worldwide’s team, led by Sikner, emphasized early design criteria, life-cycle…
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