Atmos Energy Corporation,
Monroe, Louisiana
line
The Amend Group is providing design and construction management services for Atmos Energy Corporation's new Operations Center in Monroe, Louisiana. Atmos Energy recently acquired a 3.8-acre site near the Monroe airport, and The Amend Group has completed the site planning and building design for the new center. At this location, gas service customers may pay their bills and have their questions answered about their gas service. An Atmos Energy field service group also operates out of this center, providing installation and repairs to the gas distribution infrastructure in the Monroe area and adjoining parishes. The new 24,500 square foot center will replace an aging, existing facility in Monroe, and will provide increased efficiency for these combined operations.
The Amend Group recently completed the design of the new facility, which includes a public lobby and reception area, offices, break room, and field technician cubicles, plus a field service facility featuring a warehouse, welding shop, pipe storage, and vehicle maintenance garages. The main building is clad in brick exterior with an exposed, standing seam metal roof. Two round columns support the front entrance overhang, each with a flickering gas lamp to call attention to the gas service provided by Atmos Energy.
The Amend Group will also manage the construction, which will be done by Page and Associates, General Contractor. The schedule calls for Atmos Energy to relocate to their new facility in early 2005. Following construction of the new facility and relocation by Atmos Energy, The Amend Group will manage the abatement and demolition of the existing facility, which will be completed in mid-2005.
Atmos Energy, headquartered in Dallas and one of the largest pure natural gas distributors in the United States, delivers natural gas to about 1.7 million residential, commercial, industrial, and public-authority customers. Their regulated utility services are provided to more than 1,000 small- and medium-sized communities in twelve states. Atmos Energy has grown from 300,000 customers in 1983, mainly by acquiring utility assets. Their most recent acquisition was Mississippi Valley Gas Company, Mississippi's largest natural gas utility.
The Amend Group is working with Atmos Energy Corporation on several other customer service center sites in Texas, Tennessee, Missouri and Louisiana. The design of the Monroe, Louisiana facility will become the prototype for many new Atmos Energy Operation Centers.