Fulton County · Georgia

Engineering Services in Atlanta

MEP, structural, civil, and energy-compliance engineering for Atlanta projects — permitted through City of Atlanta Department of City Planning, Office of Buildings and designed to the city's adopted codes and amendments.

Services in Atlanta

Atlanta Design Environment

Permit Office (AHJ)
City of Atlanta Department of City Planning, Office of Buildings
Building Code
Georgia State Minimum Standard Codes (2018 IBC with Georgia amendments), enforced locally by the City of Atlanta Office of Buildings
Energy Code
Georgia State Minimum Standard Energy Code (2015 IECC with Georgia Supplements and Amendments), with ASHRAE 90.1 as an alternate commercial path
Electric Utility
Georgia Power (a Southern Company utility) serves the City of Atlanta, with Georgia Power's downtown network feeding the high-density core

Because Georgia's code is mandatory statewide, Atlanta cannot adopt a weaker edition, but the city layers on its own site, zoning, and stormwater ordinances that reshape projects — most notably the Post-Development Stormwater Management Ordinance and a strict tree-protection ordinance administered by the city arborist. Confirm current DCA amendment years, which update annually.

Atlanta is the Southeast's dominant commercial construction market, driven by corporate relocations and headquarters, a large film-and-studio infrastructure buildout, one of the nation's biggest data-center corridors in the metro's periphery, and heavy healthcare, higher-education, and mixed-use activity along the BeltLine and Midtown. That volume keeps the Office of Buildings' review queues busy, which makes early site-development and stormwater coordination essential to schedule.

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Atlanta Engineering FAQs

What building code does the City of Atlanta enforce?
Atlanta enforces the Georgia State Minimum Standard Codes — currently the 2018 IBC with annual Georgia amendments adopted by the Department of Community Affairs. The city administers and enforces the code through its Office of Buildings but cannot adopt a weaker edition, so the technical baseline is consistent statewide while local site, stormwater, and tree ordinances add city-specific requirements.
How does plan review work with the City of Atlanta Office of Buildings?
Commercial submittals go through the Atlanta ePlans / Accela online portal for electronic review across building, site, fire, and utility disciplines. Large projects can use pre-application and Special Administrative Permit meetings, and the separate Site Development Permit — driven by stormwater and tree requirements — frequently paces the overall schedule more than the building permit itself.
How do Atlanta's stormwater and tree ordinances affect my site?
Significantly. Atlanta's Post-Development Stormwater Management Ordinance requires runoff reduction and water-quality treatment on erosive red-clay soils, and the city's tree-protection ordinance, enforced by the arborist with recompense obligations, can consume developable area. We resolve BMP layout, detention, and tree impacts in the first site-plan pass because they directly shape the buildable footprint.

Verified Local Sources

Reviewed 2026-09-11. Code editions and local requirements can change; confirm the current requirements with the authority having jurisdiction before design.

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Build in Atlanta with Apex Grid

Commercial plan review runs through the Atlanta ePlans / Accela Citizen Access online portal, where drawings are submitted, reviewed, and marked up electronically across building, site development, fire, and utility disciplines. The Office of Buildings routes large projects through concurrent multi-discipline review and offers pre-application and Special Administrative Permit (SAP) meetings for major developments. Site Development Permits are reviewed separately and often pace the overall schedule more than the building permit.

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