Bernardo|Wills Architects PC and Garco Construction Inc., both of Spokane, have teamed up to secure a $42.5 million project at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, in Western Washington, says Gretchen Renz, a spokeswoman for Bernardo|Wills.

Under the design-build contract, Bernardo|Wills and Garco will erect an apartment-style Unaccompanied Enlisted Housing complex at the joint military base near Tacoma, Renz says.

The 120,000-square-foot complex will include four three-story buildings with two-bedroom dwellings to house up to 350 people, she says. The housing project also will include a mailroom, a laundry room, and storage space.

Bernardo|Wills also is providing interior design services for the project, Renz says, adding that the project design will target “gold” certification through the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design rating system for sustainability.

Construction is scheduled to be completed in mid-2018, she says.

Under the design-build concept, the architect and contractor work together closely throughout the project with some stages of design occurring while the project is under construction. The design-build process potentially can result in savings in time and costs compared with the conventional design-bid-build process in which the design is largely completed before the project is put out for construction bids.

As the Journal reported recently, Bernardo|Wills and Garco also have a contract for a $8.9 million design-build project through the Washington State Department of Transportation to construct a North Central Region Administration Facility, in Wenatchee.