Stormwater Management With an ROI
Tech Square 3 (TS3) — George Tower | Scheller Tower — is one of Georgia Tech’s biggest recent additions to Midtown Atlanta: two connected towers (18 stories and 14 stories) delivering 400,000+ square feet of new academic, research, and collaboration space.
Alongside the architecture and program, TS3 carries a sustainability story that we love being part of: Georgia Tech chose to implement rainwater harvesting for both irrigation and toilet flushing—continuing a campus-wide commitment to practical water reuse.
Why Georgia Tech keeps choosing rainwater harvesting
Rainwater harvesting works best when it’s treated like infrastructure—not a one-off “green feature.” That’s exactly how Georgia Tech has approached it. TS3 is the fifth such system on campus, and Georgia Water Tanks has supplied four and maintains all five.
At TS3, Georgia Tech is also pursuing broader building performance goals, including a push toward LEED Platinum and portfolio-scale resource reduction.
A proven design—refined over 15 years
One of the things we’re proudest of on projects like TS3 is that the system isn’t experimental. It’s based on a general design approach we’ve used and refined for roughly 15 years—the kind of design that gets better because it’s been installed, operated, maintained, and improved in the real world.
That means the TS3 rainwater harvesting system reflects years of lessons learned about:
- keeping collection and storage straightforward
- building in maintainability from day one
- using controls and monitoring that make performance visible
- making the system easy to service without downtime surprises
Partnering with TigerFlow Systems
TS3 was also one of our earlier rainwater systems that we partnered on with TigerFlow Systems. TigerFlow brought two things that made a real difference:
- new insight on the design, helping validate and improve the way the system comes together, and
- quality manufacturing, which matters in the places most people never see—fit, finish, reliability, and long-term serviceability.
Good partners don’t just “build what’s on the plans.” They improve the end result. That collaboration helped sharpen elements of the approach we continue to use today.
Why long-term maintenance is part of the sustainability story
A rainwater harvesting system only delivers savings if it keeps working. That’s why we think it’s important that Georgia Tech has treated these systems as part of ongoing operations—something to be maintained, monitored, and supported over the life of the building.
TS3 also includes building-wide monitoring strategies for performance—reinforcing the idea that sustainability is measured, not assumed.
What TS3 represents for Atlanta projects
Atlanta gets plenty of rain. The real opportunity is building systems that are:
- practical enough to repeat across a campus or portfolio
- robust enough to keep working for decades
- supported by partners who care about quality and long-term outcomes
Tech Square 3 is a strong example of that mindset in action.