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Shur Architects LLC had to overcome several challenges in designing a turbine engine test facility for Columbia Helicopters Inc. at the Aurora State Airport, mainly fighting noise pollution in one of the noisiest enterprises imaginable 鈥� testing jet engines.

The design of the 1,300-square-foot building took into account variables, such as wind direction for ideal air intake and exhaust locations, said firm owner Nick Shur. Keeping the noise level down was the major goal.

鈥淎 jet engine testing facility generates a lot of noise, but this one is very quiet, at least twice as quiet as the old one,鈥� Shur said.

Although the building is at the airport, noise pollution can affect nearby farms and homes and, most importantly, airport workers, Shur said.

鈥淧eople working there are doing other jobs besides just testing engines,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat makes it even more critical that they have a workplace that meets social standards.鈥�

The design used 1-inch-thick concrete walls and is designed 鈥渟uper strong to absorb any type of explosion,鈥� Shur said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 heavy construction for a small building.鈥�

Another challenge was meeting a short construction deadline because of pending orders.

鈥淭hat was one of the major criteria for getting the job, and sometimes a big challenge for [emerging small business] firms,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e afraid smaller firms can鈥檛 meet the deadline.鈥�

But Shur鈥檚 firm did meet the deadline and its design of the building allows for future expansion of an identical test cell on the opposite side of the structure.

The general contractor for the job was Centrex Construction. The project manager was Paul Leach, director of military maintenance for Columbia Helicopters, who said he was pleased with the end result.

鈥淭his facility has been designed to handle virtually every turbine engine in the rotor wing industry and will bring a new level of capability to Columbia Helicopters, supporting not only our fleet of helicopters but to all our customers around the world,鈥� Leach said.