Lyon County, Kansas operates a correctional facility that contains 74 individual housing units. The existing plumbing fixtures located in most of the units were porcelain water closets and wall mount porcelain lavatories, original to the 1992 construction. This installation is no longer standard in correctional facilities as they are subject to repeated damage due to daily use and introduce potential safety risks as porcelain fixtures can break into hazardous shards.

As a long-time engineering consultant for Lyon County, BG Consultants was asked to design the replacement of all existing porcelain fixtures throughout the housing units. This included the piping connections located inside the secured plumbing chases. BG Consultants recommended the installation of stainless-steel combination lavatory/water closets units. These combi-units were secured to the existing masonry walls with security sleeves that prevent access into the plumbing chase in the event the fixture was able to be dislodged. These stainless-steel units have reduced likelihood of vandalism-related maintenance and are designed to comply with modern correctional standards, reducing both short-term maintenance and long-term operating costs.

The project was budgeted across two fiscal years for the County, and the timing for bidding the project was coordinated with County staff to allow the project to be awarded as a single project, and the project was successfully bid below budget. The project construction was phased so that only one housing pod was out of service at a time, allowing corrections staff to adjust operations through the project while keeping disruption to a minimum.