Clark Construction, HKS break ground on FBI Innovation Center in Huntsville, Alabama

Dive Brief:

A design-build team made up of Clark Construction and architecture firm HKS has broken ground on a new training and cybersecurity facility for the FBI in Huntsville, Alabama.
Due to be complete in 2023, the FBI Innovation Center will be located at the Redstone Arsenal Army base, where the bureau is building a 243-acre science and technology campus to enhance its training programs and tap into talent in the region, according to a press release.
As the flagship building of the campus, the 250,000-square-foot Innovation Center will be dedicated to cyberthreat intelligence, data analytics and training to combat emerging threats. The three-story building will include collaborative office space, formal and informal auditoriums, "collision spaces" for impromptu learning encounters and specialized training spaces including a kinetic cyber range and a virtual reality classroom for agents to test and apply their skills and tools in real-world settings.

Dive Insight:

The Clark-HKS team's scope of work also includes a central utility plant, dining facilities, and an outdoor quad.

Optional Caption

Permission granted by Clark/HKS

The FBI is investing $1 billion to build out its footprint in the Huntsville area, according to CNBC, where the bureau has had a presence since the 1970s. In in recent years, it has moved more employees to its facilities in the region, and has about 860 employees there today. The FBI envisions at least 3,400 people will work at Redstone Arsenal by 2026, according to Federal News Network.

The FBI had planned to move its headquarters from the outdated Hoover building in Washington, D.C., to a campus in suburban Maryland or Virginia, but dropped those plans in 2019. Instead, it's steering capital investments to Huntsville, a city known as a hub for aviation and aerospace research and development.

"As we look toward the future, we're really focused on an investment strategy that will be surrounded by enterprise applied technology and advanced and specialized training," Adam Rhodes, an FBI program manager and Huntsville transition team lead, told FNN. "We want the FBI Redstone to be the epicenter of the FBI's technology development, and we want to standardize and consolidate advanced trainings that are across the country right now in Redstone and create a graduate school for the FBI training program."