McCarthy Tops Out Engineered Biosystems Building at Georgia Tech

The highly anticipated Engineered Biosystems Building (EBB) at Georgia Tech received its final beam today as the southeast division of McCarthy Building Companies completed the 225,000 square foot building frame at a ceremony this afternoon.  With the foundation and core framework complete, students, faculty and the surrounding community will notice a dramatic increase of activity at the site as the building enclosure materials are added and interiors prepared for build out.  

“We are pleased to celebrate this milestone in the construction process,” said Steve Swant, executive vice president of administration and finance at Georgia Tech. “We look forward to what EBB will add to the institute’s various research opportunities.” 

In fact, EBB is already providing research results. Several teams of Georgia Tech engineering students and researchers have used the construction site to conduct experiments. Students used both GPS and unmanned aerial vehicles to track equipment and personnel to analyze productivity and safety. Another student team used augmented reality to check product installations via hand-held tablets in the field to compare them against BIM digital planning documents. One additional study is monitoring masonry productivity and how the application of BIM can enhance the efficiency of this trade.

“We are so excited to reach this point of the project,” said Ben Watkins, McCarthy’s project director. “Providing hands-on opportunities for the students here at Georgia Tech and becoming part of this campus community is an added benefit of constructing this state-of-the-art lab. They aren’t just waiting for its completion; these engineering students are taking advantage of having a large-scale construction project in their backyard.”

In terms of engineering, EBB construction provides some striking features:

·  About 40,000 cubic yards of dirt was excavated from the site. 

·  About 10,000 cubic yards of concrete was used in the infrastructure.

·  The basement level is approximately 40 feet’ underground.

·  The building has a permanent foundation drainage system to accommodate the groundwater present at such a deep elevation.

·    EBB has seven stories; five above ground, a basement level and a mechanical penthouse.

Topping out presentations are a traditional milestone in the construction process and signals the completion of the foundational framework. Several university officials and community leaders were on hand to celebrate alongside the construction team.

Students and community members are following EBB construction progress on social media. They monitor web cameras mounted nearby that captures the building activity time lapse and also receive traffic and safety updates via Twitter @georgiatechEBB and on Facebook.