Bell Helicopter

Aircraft Assembly Facility

Bell Helicopter built its newest world-class aerospace assembly facility on a 14.5-acre site at the Lafayette Regional Airport. The facility is used to assemble the Bell 505 Jet Ranger X. The demand to fabricate and deliver a new SLS (Short Light Single) helicopter produced the need for Bell to incorporate other partial ongoing fabrication capabilities into a single, more efficient facility. The resulting 82,000 sf facility incorporates fabrication, flight testing and certification, painting, custom kitting, and aircraft delivery. The building also houses office and welfare spaces for Bell Helicopter’s associates located at the facility. The facility incorporates just-in-time delivery methods from its various product vendors to minimize on-site storage needs and maximize the space available for fabrication and delivery of the current aircraft product line.

In spite of the aggressive schedule and other challenges — a 15% increase in scope without a schedule extension, record rainfall, and the unexpected relocation of an existing FAA cable — the project obtained its Certificate of Occupancy almost one week earlier than required by the original schedule.

  • Service — Construction Management
  • Architect — Hahnfeld Hoffer Stanford Southwest
  • Multiple Award-Winning (Regional + National)