Muscatatuck Urban Training Center
DLZ is a part of the USPFO Department of Indiana Indefinite Delivery Agreement. As a part of it, DLZ was commissioned to provide professional services to establish a Combined Arms Collective Training Facility. The facility is located at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center (MUTC) in Butlerville, Indiana.
Muscatatuck Urban Training Center
MUTC is a secluded, self-contained community and was once home to the Muscatatuck State Developmental Center. In July of 2005 the Indiana National Guard took over the administration of the 1,000-acre site. Since then, it has been continually evolving into a full-immersion contemporary urban training environment. MUTC is a consortium of governmental, public, and private entities that are pooling their unique capabilities in order to provide the most realistic training experience possible. Training at MUCT replicates both foreign and domestic scenarios. Not just the military but also various organizations can utilize the training.
Those utilizing the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center have access to a 180-acre reservoir and urban infrastructure consisting of about 75 buildings. These buildings include a school, hospital, and dormitories, single-family type dwellings, and a dining facility. Some of the buildings are light industrial structures and administrative buildings totaling approximately 850,000 square feet of floor space. Additionally, the training area includes an extensive underground utility tunnel system and over 9 miles of roads and streets.
Establishing the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility
New buildings required for this project conform to the Range Design Guide. Some of these new buildings even have furnished floor plans and building elevations. Other plans were developed to be site-specific.
The new buildings include
- Range Operations Center
- After Action Review Building
- Latrine
- Operations/Storage Building
- Bleacher Enclosure, Warehouse
- Mosque
- 4 Shanty Town Building designs, and 2 Guard Towers for the Jail Complex
Site elements included a 3-acre Cemetery with above-ground Crypts, a “Shanty Town”, a Staging Area, Courtyard Walls, Soccer Fields, Traffic circles, and a Roundabout.
Some of the existing buildings at MUTC were used for CACTF purposes and this project included making these existing buildings safe for training exercises. Firstly, DLZ needed to determine the nature and extent of any existing problems for existing buildings. As a result of the sun, wind, rain, and freeze-thaw cycles, the existing buildings have deteriorated.
Some buildings needed asbestos abatement. DLZ provided reports to define the problems, quantify the solutions to the problems, and determine the cost of needed repairs. In addition to repairs, the cost estimates include designated items specifically needed for CACTF purposes. Some examples of these items can be “Mouse Holes,” “Breach Points” and “Rappel Anchors.” The intent of the Range Buildings is to provide a safe maintainable shell.
DLZ provided cost estimates for the new and existing buildings and worked with the US Military to arrive at the quantity of work the budget would support.
