In cities around the world we face challenges with keeping them vibrant and healthy for investment, economic development, sustainable growth and making them resilient to external factors around us. Land is scarce and many sites face long-term environmental liabilities due to historic use and contamination. We are continually looking for opportunities to redevelop and reuse sites to support growth and keep our cities alive.
Atlanta has experienced remarkable growth over the last 20 years, resulting in large infrastructure investment to support people, businesses and communities in metropolitan areas. In this city I call home, I am proud to be involved in redevelopment efforts of iconic and award-winning projects facing environmental complexities, by not only putting plans in place to clean them up, but by also looking at the benefits of what can be reused and the potential of what they can become.
My 8 years of involvement on the redevelopment of a 130-acre former brownfield area near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has come to a successful close. It is now the Headquarters of Porsche Cars North America (PCNA), expected to draw 30,000 customers and general public to its 27-acre complex, 1.6-mile driver development track and experience centre.
In June 2008, Jacoby Development Inc. (JDI) retained our expert support in turning this ‘diamond in the rough’ into an attractive site for productive reuse and sale. Being adjacent to the airport and Interstate 75 made it an ideal location for local and international accessibility. Our work in environmental strategy and risk-based technical corrective action involved designing and overseeing the soil remediation of 34 areas from contaminants above state-regulated clean-up standards. We also provided demolition consulting and oversight services.
Following JDI’s sale of the site to PCNA, we were the geotechnical and environmental consultant for the build of their $100 million North American headquarters. This LEED Gold Certified Centre is now home to an energising environment that demonstrates the capabilities of its cars while engaging employees, partners, customers and enthusiasts, local and abroad.
It is rewarding to achieve the vision of our customers, demonstrate our team’s capability to work collaboratively to address complex environmental challenges and deliver seamlessly through the transition of customers, while boosting the economy for local communities.
We are proud of the PCNA/Aerotropolis project team’s Grand Prize win at the 2017 Georgia Engineering Awards as well as a National Honour Award at the ACEC Awards in Washington, DC. This brings well-deserved recognition amongst our peers and competitors across the State and further recognises our part in keeping Atlanta alive and set for growth.