The largest low-rise office building in the world, the 6.5 million-square foot Pentagon is a small city (17.5 miles of corridors and 25,000 mission-critical employees) on a 220-acre reservation in Arlington, VA. The Pentagon’s size and status as a National Historic Landmark compound the complexity of our 20-year effort to transform the building into a state-of-the-art facility.

AECOM, as the lead joint venturer, acts as an extension of the Pentagon Renovation & Construction Office, providing program and construction management and technical expertise for the $5.4 billion restoration of the Pentagon, the United States’ military headquarters. AECOM began working on the Pentagon in 1991. Our current contract runs through 2015, when the renovation will be complete.

AECOM has managed the complex, phased renovation of the Pentagon in five 1.5 million-square foot wedges, providing swing space for roughly 20 percent of the 25,000 building occupants at any given time, move planning and execution, master planning, budgeting, standards and criteria development, design and constructability reviews and phasing analysis, all while keeping the 24/7 mission-critical facility about 80 percent occupied and operating.

The one million-square foot renovation of Wedge 1 was five days from completion when the wedge was struck on September 11, 2001. After the attack, we oversaw the Phoenix Project with a goal to restore the Pentagon in one year. Work included damage assessment and reconstruction, as well as the installation of significant security enhancements, allowing rededication of the facility exactly one year after the terrorist attack.

The Pentagon renovation has embraced energy efficiency and sustainability under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED-NC program. Currently, the renovation program has four LEED-NC certified and one LEED-NC silver-certified facility:

  • Metro Entrance Facility;
  • Remote Delivery Facility;
  • Pentagon Athletic Center and Pentagon Wedges 2 and 3; and
  • The Pentagon Library and Conference Center.