The Port of Long Beach (POLB) is located in Southern California’s San Pedro Bay. Serving as a major transportation and trade center, POLB provides the shipping terminals for nearly one-third of the waterborne trade moving through the West Coast. Each year, POLB handles in excess of $100 billion in goods, it supports about 1.4 million U.S. jobs, and it generates roughly $15 billion in trade-related wages.

SCCC construction requires driving 46 prestressed concrete piles, each to a 90-foot depth.

Together, POLB and the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) make up the largest active port complex in the United States and rank as the world’s fifth busiest complex (after Hong Kong and Singapore), based on the combined number of cargo containers shipped through both ports. In keeping with our national objectives of protecting our country’s borders, POLB has secured funding from the Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), to design and construct a new and shared 25,110-ft² Security Command and Control Center (SCCC) in Long Beach.

POLB hired Parsons to provide construction management services on its SCCC project. This 3-story-high facility with a helipad will house the POLB security and police department. The primary objective of the facility is to monitor above, on, and below water security continuously. POLB envisions this new center as a central location that supports its security monitoring operations and can be accessed concurrently—when needed or desired—by POLA, the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. Coast Guard (USGC), and other law enforcement agencies, in addition to POLB’s own security division.

Aerial views of SCCC’s framing structure at two different stages of completion.

The new 3-story SCCC includes the following major features:

• The building infrastructure supports around-the-clock CCTV security surveillance for POLB and POLA. Cameras are placed strategically at public launching docks and are dispersed throughout both ports. The CCTV system represents the latest technology with high-resolution color cameras, monitors, and command modules with optical, infrared, and motion detection.

• The SCCC is the first LEED (Leadership in Environmental Energy & Design) building at POLB to achieve a USGBC (United States Green Building Counsel) certification level.

• The 5,000-lb-capacity heliport can be used for Long Beach’s police SWAT team operations.

• The SCCC supports the city police underwater dive team, enabling the police to prepare, equip, and mobilize surface/underwater security patrols and rescues within POLB’s waters.

• A 750-kVA genset (i.e., generator setup), with internal fuel tanks, supports SCCC’s critical systems in the event of a power failure.

• The entire floor of the Department of Operations Center (DOC) is designed for easy viewing by an audience of as many as 40 people because the room’s raised-access sloped floor is similar to a theater setting, and it includes the complete infrastructure for numerous telecom, data, and other forms of communication.

LEED-Compliant Materials: Energy Star roofing material minimizes site impact.	T-bar ceiling frame with filter covering A/C duct to ensure LEED compliance.

In addition to managing the major contractor, Parsons, along with the POLB construction manager, manages a meticulous review of requests for information within 5 days and submittal reviews within 14 days. These reviews ensure continuous, onsite progress. A detailed analysis of the monthly schedule serves to evaluate the critical path and assess further progress. Based on Parsons’ effective review of the LEED process, the new SCCC is on its path to become the first LEED-certified building in the entire POLB.

Parsons is assisting POLB in its commitment to become the most environmentally friendly port in the world, which sets the framework for its daily operations and environmental protection efforts.

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