The Washington County Board approved a $1.8 million contract last week to provide architectural design and engineering services for a new Public Works South Shop in Woodbury. 

The new facility is planned to replace the existing South Shop at 4039 Cottage Grove Drive, county Senior Public Works Project Manager Dan Lawrence said after the board’s Aug. 26 vote.

County studies determined in both 2013 and 2022 that the current facility was outdated and in need of major repairs or replacement.

The building’s design is no longer suited for the size, type and amount of equipment needed in the southern portion of the county, Lawrence explained. 

The county received 13 design proposals during the bidding process, which closed July 18. Minneapolis-based RSP Architects Ltd. was awarded the county’s design contract with an eye toward cutting operational inefficiencies and staff time needed to access snowplows, trucks, vans, and other equipment. 

Like the current facility, the new project will also include office and storage space.

“Because we’re such a large county, we need both a north and south facility like this so we’re able to house different quantities of a range of vehicles to serve this entire area,” Lawrence said in an Aug. 28 interview. 

The RSP design process is expected to take about a year to complete, followed by construction bidding and contracting, with construction projected to last “through 2028,” he added.