HED, in association with Crime Lab Design, was selected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to conduct a study to re-align the forensics laboratory and office spaces within their Quantico facility with appropriate area accommodations to maximize space utilization. This study also identified opportunities to better accommodate new missions and to begin addressing employee needs. During phase one of the building area use analysis, the team developed an understanding of each unit—case load, staff, perceived needs—and the current area assignments, applied current forensic science area standards to each unit to establish new space needs for office and labs/work areas, analyzed what the application of these new standards reveal in terms of a) units that are correctly accommodated to meet demand, b) units that have opportunity to compress to allow for accommodating new missions, and c) units that are confined by their existing accommodations, and established area requirements that satisfy the needs of new missions. Labs and research space were relocated to a single consolidated floor of the building, including the photo lab, record storage, offices and training facilities.

The team encountered several challenges, including the need for work to be performed without disruption to operations and sensitive equipment on the other floors. Security requirements were a key element in the planning, design, and execution of the project, with the design solution resolving existing layout issues between the public and secure areas, as well as segregating storage, labs, and other spaces per FBI programming requirements.