GPLA successfully completed its third project on a Life Science Project expanding a campus in Atlanta, GA leveraging the power of partnerships and its close integration with DPR, SPW Concrete, vConstruct and others to deliver the work on schedule and budget.
The project is part of a multi-phased regional headquarters campus project that has been developing over several years. Slated for completion in 2026, the campus will ultimately encompass nine buildings totaling more than 1 million square feet.
Designed and built on the heels of its previous work on the campus, GPLA’s contract for the building and the adjacent parking structure involved detailing 1650 tons of rebar. The scope of services included LOD 400 rebar modeling, coordination with the structural steel and MEP reference modes for review of constructability issues, creation of rebar and concrete shop drawings, and direct coordination with the fabricator to manage the rebar releases.
GPLA worked closely with the project’s general contractor, DPR Construction, structural engineer of record, Walter P. Moore, and various other key parties to maximize efficiencies in their design and improve constructability. Employing GPLA’s standard practice of 3D modeling all rebar to a LOD 400 or higher and then directly sending RDX files to the fabricator – an approach that facilitates a high level of accuracy and quality control – the team was able to achieve a net savings of approximately 400 tons of rebar from the original estimate, according to Patrick Ripley, BIM detailing manager, concrete for GPLA.
He noted that GPLA’s utilization of its proprietary, internally developed Rebar Release Tool software, piloted on this project, proved to be a key efficiency solution on this job. That tool enabled the team to coordinate and communicate seamlessly with fabricators and placers directly within the reinforcing model, thereby reducing the potential for human error. The Rebar Release Tool has since been deployed on additional projects throughout the company.
Ripley also credited the strong communications and constant coordination that GPLA maintained with the SPW Concrete team in DPR’s Southeast regional office as one of the keys to the project’s overall success.
“The strong integration between GPLA and DPR and its sister companies, including the SPW teams within DPR among others, was really a driver in the success,” he said. “By working together and utilizing the tools we had developed, we were able to deliver the rebar package with minimal errors, on time, with savings while also ensuring that everything was effectively tracked with the team.”
