AHBL provided structural engineering to the Pierce County Public Works STOP project. The new facility is made up of six buildings, totaling 125,000 square feet of workshop, storage, and office space. The 28 acre site houses Pierce County’s sewer and traffic maintenance and operations (M&O) staff, their vehicles and equipment, and support staff. 

As part of the design team, AHBL’s structural engineers were involved in all phases of this project. Pre-design services involved a review of available options for the structural framing systems. Our preliminary design efforts evaluated several different structural systems for the differing building types, including pre-engineered building systems, load-bearing masonry walls as well as structural steel systems with varying vertical and lateral load resisting types/materials. We also reviewed special structural requirements for unique project conditions such as bridge cranes, other equipment and exterior site elements that included a large pole storage canopy and concrete “tipping wall”.

Final design included a mix of structural steel buildings, masonry buildings with steel roof framing as well as large pre-engineered canopy structures.  The structural systems were selected based upon requirements for initial cost, durability and long term maintenance.  The structural design involved close coordination with the architectural project requirements as well as critical owner requirements for building programming and interior equipment.

This facility is designed to LEED Gold standards.