Building Southern California’s Civic Future

For decades, Swinerton has partnered with public agencies throughout Southern California to deliver facilities that support the essential functions of government and enhance quality of life for residents. From police stations and emergency operations centers to headquarters buildings and community-focused facilities, our Public/Civic team brings together design, construction, and development expertise to meet the diverse needs of public-sector clients. 

Grounded in a collaborative culture, we work closely with administrative officials, agency leaders, community stakeholders, and taxpayers to ensure every project delivers lasting value. Our experience spans award-winning design-build projects, LEED®-certified facilities, public-private partnerships, and innovative mass timber construction, helping agencies achieve their goals while maintaining schedule certainty and fiscal responsibility. 

As part of the broader Swinerton ecosystem, our teams leverage the expertise of affiliated companies including Griffin Swinerton, allowing us to provide integrated solutions that streamline planning, financing, design, and construction while maximizing long-term community benefits.  

Notable Southern California Public/Civic Projects 

Orange County Sanitation District Headquarters 

The Orange County Sanitation District Headquarters is a 109,000-square-foot, three-story hybrid mass timber and structural steel facility that demonstrates how sustainable design and innovation can elevate the public workplace. Designed to achieve stringent seismic requirements while reducing embodied carbon, the LEED Gold®-certified project features exposed mass timber throughout the building, creating a warm, biophilic environment for employees and visitors. 

Swinerton’s VDC team utilized a comprehensive digital twin model to coordinate all mass timber components before fabrication, improving accuracy and reducing field rework. The award-winning project has been recognized by organizations including ENR West, WoodWorks, the Los Angeles Business Council, CoreNet Global, and the AIA for excellence in sustainability, resilience, workplace design, and innovative use of wood. 

San Bernardino County Valley Communications Center (VCC) 

The Valley Communications Center is a three-story mission-critical facility that serves as the primary Emergency Operations Center and Emergency Communications Center for the San Bernardino Valley. 

Designed to remain operational during natural and manmade disasters, the facility now houses numerous County departments, including Sheriff-Coroner, County Fire, Emergency Management, and emergency communications services. The project incorporates significant utility and technology redundancies and features 33 below-grade seismic isolators capable of accommodating substantial building movement during seismic events. 

This center also includes a new 200-foot communications tower and extensive site improvements, helping ensure reliable emergency response capabilities throughout the region. 

County of Orange Civic Center, North and South 

The Orange County Civic Center is one of the largest public-private partnership (P3) developments of its kind in California, bringing together Griffin Swinerton as lead developer, LPA as the design partner, and Swinerton Builders as the general contractor. Located in downtown Santa Ana, the new civic campus reimagines how Orange County serves the public while creating a modern, energy-efficient workplace for County employees. 

The campus consists of two six-story, 250,000-square-foot office buildings with parking below each building that serve the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Designed to LEED Silver® standards, the buildings perform 70 percent better than a typical office building and feature public-facing amenities including a 300-person Board of Supervisors chamber and a 240-person conference and event center available for community use. 

Each building includes a two-level, 150,000-square-foot subterranean parking structure. Swinerton self-performed the extensive concrete scope for both buildings and parking structures, as well as framing, and site clean-up, maintaining exceptional quality and schedule control throughout construction. 

Building Communities Through Partnership 

Whether delivering a resilient emergency operations center, an innovative mass timber headquarters, or a modern public safety facility, Swinerton approaches every civic project with a commitment to partnership, accountability, and long-term value.