To build Gwinnett County, Ga.’s 664,000-sq-ft Discovery High School—all under one roof—contractor Carroll Daniel Construction Co. had to transform a 90-acre site that contained an old tire warehouse. The designer called for incorporating much of the existing structure into the school, but scaled back those plans after encountering unexpected site conditions. As work for the underslab plumbing began, crews immediately encountered rock. Test bores revealed that most of the building sat on an almost continuous bed of granite. Track-mounted rock breakers proved useless, so crews used controlled blasting within the existing structure, which was being retained. In the end, crews blasted more than a lineal mile of trench line—some as deep as 12 ft—inside the building.

Discovery High School

Lawrenceville, Ga.

Key Players
Owner Gwinnett County Board of Education
Lead Designer Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates Inc.
Contractor Carroll Daniel Construction Co.
Structural Engineer Stanley D. Lindsey and Associates
MEP Engineer Matheson - Ball & Associates Inc.