Tharpe Engineering wins 2017 Excellence in Preservation Award

Savannah, Ga. — Tharpe Engineering Group and Hansen Architects of Savannah, Ga., are among the statewide award-winners honored at the 2017 Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s 40th annual Preservation Awards ceremony.  The Trust presented 19 awards recognizing the best of preservation in Georgia this past Friday, April 28.

Tharpe and Hansen took away the distinction for “Excellence in Preservation,” which recognizes the significant contribution made to ‘the appropriate preservation of historic resources and creative interpretations of historic sites’ for their work on the Broughton Street Collection, 16 rehabilitated buildings on Broughton Street.

The Broughton Street Collection is the ongoing rehabilitation of buildings along Savannah’s Broughton Street, once upon a time the city’s main shopping district. The recession of the 1970s coupled with the growth of malls and suburban sprawl left the area vacant. Thankfully, the slow economy left an enormous percentage of historic buildings intact.  The Broughton Street Collection brought back those historic spaces — some dating back to the 1800s — for residential lofts, offices and retail outlets such as H & M, lululemon, J. Crew and Victoria’s Secret.

“We are proud to have been the structural engineer of record for these projects,” said Cody Tharpe, principal of the Tharpe Engineering Group. “The TEG team worked diligently on these projects to solve many unique challenges encountered in each building, facilitating the redevelopment of many historic structures along Broughton Street.  It was an honor to be a part of the design and construction team tasked with returning these properties to their former glory”

Tharpe performed due diligence inspections of each property to determine the major structural issues and challenges with each building to assist the owner with making the decision to purchase and in development of their lease outline drawings used for marketing to potential tenants.  Once the property was purchased, they performed detailed inspections to collect specific structural deficiency and as-built information to develop structural repair and alteration designs and drawings.  They were involved throughout construction – providing guidance and design services to overcome unforeseen conditions discovered once the contractor had the interiors demolished, exposing the structural elements.

Located in historic downtown Savannah, Tharpe Engineering Group provides structural engineering solutions for a broad range of commercial, educational, hospitality, large-scale residential, adaptive reuse, and historic preservation building projects.

For 40 years, the Georgia Trust has recognized preservation projects and individuals throughout Georgia who have made significant contributions to the field of historic preservation. It is one of the country’s leading statewide, nonprofit preservation organizations, working for the preservation and revitalization of Georgia’s diverse historic resources and advocating for their appreciation, protection and use.