Environmental science staffers will be consolidated under one roof at the U.S. Army Research and Development Center by late 2010 as part of $40 million worth of continuing and future construction.

A two-story, 85,000-square-foot facility will be a new headquarters for about 300 engineers, scientists, technicians and administrative staff currently working in multiple buildings on ERDC’s 700 acres in Vicksburg, public affairs officer Wayne Stroupe said.

“We have these people scattered in many locations, so this will pull them all together and put them in one, ‘green’ building,” Stroupe said, adding a formal groundbreaking is planned for 9 a.m. on Aug. 25.

The announcement came following the award of a construction contract to First-Yates, a minority-owned joint venture based in Edwards. The physical address of Jackson-based Yates Construction appears on a link to the contract on the federal government contracting Web site www.fbo.gov. The firm’s winning bid was $15,986,956. The Corps’ Vicksburg District was the contracting agent and will be the construction and quality assurance agent during construction, with completion expected by Oct. 31, 2010.

To be built just south of the existing multiple-story ERDC Geotechnical and Structures Headquarters Building on ERDC’s perimeter on Porters Chapel Road, the Environmental Laboratory Headquarters will house research on Corps of Engineers missions in navigation, flood control and ecosystem restoration. Military installation research planned for the site includes unexploded artillery and munitions detection, soil and groundwater contamination, threatened and endangered species and environmental stewardship of training lands.

ERDC touted the economic and environmental benefits of the new facility and other planned additions like a $15 million supercomputer and future upgrades around the ERDC Information Technology lab.

“These Corps construction projects are making a big economic impact on the local area,” read a project description composed by ERDC late Thursday. “Hopefully, First-Yates will employ many area residents for this new building project.”

The facility will be a “green” building under criteria set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which includes sustainable site selection, water efficiency, energy conservation, building materials, indoor environmental quality and design innovations.

Having all Environmental Laboratory employees in one building “will greatly enhance collaborative opportunities and help ERDC provide improved, more comprehensive solutions to the complex environmental challenges facing our sponsors in Corps districts, other agencies, and our nongovernment partners and stakeholders — basically our citizens across the nation,” the project description concluded.

ERDC is one of Vicksburg’s largest employers, with about 1,663 federal employees, contractors, students and temporary staff on an annual payroll of $77.3 million.

It was created in 1928, following the Mississippi River flooding in 1927, with the initial purpose of designing systems to manage the river and tributaries for navigation and flood control. In the years since, several additional labs covering other engineering areas have been created.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com