Abovenet Fiber Optic Installation
Lake County, Illinois

Abovenet, a private operator of fiber optic communications networks, required a complete, redundant fiber optic route between two corporate sites in Lake County. GHA provided topographic surveying, design and permit review plans, construction and right-of-way staking, and construction observation services for over 62,000’ of new-build fiber.

The 31-mile project route ran along five State roadways and four County highways through eight municipalities. Permitting was required through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and USACE for five Regulatory Floodway crossings and numerous wetland crossings, and through two railroad companies for four rail crossings. In addition, one of the State roadways was under construction for widening, and a County highway was scheduled for a grade-separation project. GHA acquired the plans for these improvement projects and incorporated the proposed improvements into the design, avoiding future relocation of the fiber lines.

MWRD Stickney Water Reclamation Plant
Cicero, Illinois

The largest wastewater treatment facility in the world, Stickney Water Reclamation Plant serves 2.38 million people within a 260-square-mile area, including the central part of Chicago and 43 suburban communities.

In preparation for the construction of a new laboratory building, GHA created a 3D model of the northwest portion of the property for incorporation into the Architect’s 3D plans. Using a combination of high definition scanning (HDS) and traditional robotic total station surveying techniques, GHA collected 3-dimensional point data for an underground tunnel and underground utilities (for tie-in to the new building), parking facilities, exterior elevations of existing buildings to remain, and the Pershing Road frontage.

St. Gerard Church Existing Conditions Survey
Buffalo, New York

In response to overwhelming parish growth, Mary Our Queen Catholic Church in suburban Atlanta investigated constructing a new building to accommodate its parishioners. Instead, the Church opted to dismantle and relocate an approximately 21,000-square-foot Roman Basilica-style church from Buffalo, New York. Constructed circa 1911, St. Gerard was scheduled for demolition due to dwindling patronage.

To aid with the “preservation by relocation” project, GHA was retained to provide existing conditions drawings of the interior and exterior elevations of the building for use in the dismantling and reconstruction of the church. GHA used high definition scanning (HDS) to collect 3D point data of the building façade, within 2mm of accuracy. Each point corresponds to x, y, and z coordinates, which were used to create AutoCAD drawings of the existing conditions.

The church is constructed of 2,000-pound Indiana limestone blocks, and its interior is adorned with 12 granite columns, a coffered ceiling, and numerous murals, rondos, and a fresco. As the drawings were used by the project architect to inventory façade elements for reassembly, capturing the precise location of each of the architectural features was paramount to facilitate the reconstruction of the church at its new location, 900 miles away.