McKenney’s installed life support systems (LSS), including plumbing, pipefitting, and controls, for the Zoo Atlanta Elephant Barn as part of the African Savanna exhibit expansion in Atlanta.

THE CHALLENGE 

Zoo Atlanta tripled the size of its elephant habitat, tasking McKenney’s with managing LSS for the new exhibit. The McKenney’s team needed to perform most of the plumbing and pipefitting work underground while navigating around the steel and concrete barn. The project required strategic coordination among site contractors to manage the mostly manual system and extended periods of heavy rainfall created delays. 

THE SOLUTION 

The McKenney’s team worked in phases to minimize disruption with other contractors, projects and exhibits. As part of the LSS, the team installed temporary steel structures to float large sand filters into place and used an ultrasonic flow meter from the McKenney’s commissioning group to adjust overflow protection for the waterfalls and pools.

THE RESULTS 

McKenney’s experience with LSS and expert coordination led to a fully functioning exhibit and elephant barn with extremely appealing water features.