Structural Repair at Marine Laboratory

The North Carolina State Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores includes a large marine laboratory. A chemical leak contaminated a concrete column that supports the long-span roof over the lab. The chemical destroyed the column’s internal reinforcement, weakening it severely and risking a roof collapse.

Atlas worked out a system of temporary partitions and dust control measures to maintain site cleanliness and a sequence of careful demolition and reconstruction steps for the project. The plan required intense preparation by the construction team and full-time monitoring by Atlas Engineering during critical parts of the work. Demolition, material handling, fitting, and welding was accomplished in the middle of an operational marine laboratory. New structural members, nearby partition walls, and utility lines were built, inspected, painted, and finished out, with no interruption to the critical work of the marine laboratory.