Albemarle County Firearms Training Facility

Charlottesville, VA

To design and build a new, 19,000 square foot firing range and firearms training center, Albemarle County, the City of Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia joined forces. An increasingly common sight as public budgets tighten, clients are sharing facilities and exploring public-private options to finance public safety training facilities.

Partnering with Clark Nexsen’s public safety experts to design the facility, these three groups voiced a desire for a flexible training space to create multiple scenarios as well as the need for a variety of support spaces. The new, indoor firing range replaces an existing outdoor firing range and includes acoustic controls to minimize sound transmission to adjacent residential areas. The training center features two 8-point, 50-yard tactical ranges with 180 degree shooting capability. The new facility also has the capability to bring vehicles and simulation props into the building for additional tactical training. Support spaces include a simulator room and a general purpose room, which have flexible finishes to serve as a classroom or as a space for physical training.

The Clark Nexsen design team of architects and engineers supported the City in facilitating an effective partnership between these groups, conducting multiple charrettes and studies to determine the overall training program and various agency needs, ultimately undertaking an extensive site selection and building design process.

Today, the 36,000 square foot, single-story indoor firing range includes 12 firing positions at both 50 yards and at 100 yards, each capable of training live fire ammunition up to .50 caliber. Designed in a walk down configuration without shooting booths, the range uses multiple target systems including a fixed pneumatic target system capable of edge and face movement, running man systems, and steel reactive targets. A low slope steel bullet trap was used on the firing range, which includes an automatic lead collection system for the spent rounds.

In addition to the firing lines, the range facility houses a 30-person classroom with full audiovisual and distance learning capability, weapons storage, cleaning and maintenance areas, and independent HVAC mechanical rooms so that each range may be operated without interrupting the other.

SIZE  19,000 SF  /  COST  $4,500,000