Atlas Works for WeWork

April 8, 2019|Client News | Written by Matt Czyl

WeWork is a company that provides shared work spaces, technology startup subculture communities, and services for entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups, small businesses and large enterprises. WeWork has over 635 properties, in 110 cities, spanning 35 countries, and they are growing daily.

Atlas works with WeWork, providing corporate branding, including mid-rise and high-rise projects. So it is not surprising that they turned to Atlas for their latest challenging project in Charlotte, NC. These challenges included:

  • The building was originally zoned for no signage allowed. Atlas, utilizing its in-house permitting department and decades of experience, not only got the zoning changed, but also requested and received a variance. This was accomplished by opening and maintaining lines of communication to the city of Charlotte and the Senior Principal Planner for Development.
  • The architecture and building configuration made it necessary to engineer a unique and orchestrated project plan. There were two main issues. The building tapered bottom to top, making a sky bridge lift impractical. In addition, the freight elevator was too small to allow for signage transport to the top this way. Therefore, a helicopter lift was required.
  • The helicopter lift installation significantly impacted signage engineering and its installation. The entire process was governed and approved by the Charlotte Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration:
    • With the weight restrictions for a helicopter lift, the signage needed to be fabricated and installed in three sections.
    • A parameter of safety was established, with the cooperation of the Charlotte Police Department. This included street shutdowns, and evacuating and closing down three parking garages.
  • The installation was done on a weekend, and the schedule worked around the NCAA tournament!

The Atlas Project Management team dug in and completed this eight month project on time, despite weather and event delays. Showing how important the due diligence of a project like this is, the permitting, zoning and planning took six months and the manufacturing and installation took two months.

Angela Queen, Senior Project Manager

“Due diligence and planning are critical on a helicopter-lift high-rise project like this, and it takes a true team effort.”