Industrial, logistics, and EV facilities put demands on site infrastructure that most civil engineering firms don’t see on their regular project load. Truck courts need pavement sections thick enough to handle 80,000-pound GVW loads without premature failure. Warehouse and high-piled storage buildings require fire flow volumes that can exceed what the existing public main delivers. And EV charging hubs, automotive service facilities, and last-mile distribution centers are arriving with power demand schedules that have to be coordinated with the serving utility before a shovel breaks ground.
Calichi Design Group provides site civil and dry utility engineering for industrial, logistics, EV, and automotive projects across 42 states. Our team has delivered projects ranging from a 260,000-square-foot industrial park with two buildings and full utility systems on 20 acres in Mesa, AZ to a ground-up four-story enclosed automotive service and storage facility covering roughly 411,000 square feet in Chicago. We know where these projects stall, and we know how to move them through agency review and into construction.
Heavy Pavement Design for Truck Courts and Industrial Sites
A pavement section that performs adequately under passenger vehicles will fail quickly under a fleet of Class 8 semi-trucks. Industrial site civil design starts with the traffic index, which is derived from axle loads, the frequency of truck movements, and the subgrade conditions on the specific parcel. Projects that skip the geotechnical report and use a rule-of-thumb section routinely come back for overlay or full reconstruction within five years.
For dock-high distribution buildings, the dock apron takes the highest stress concentration: loaded trailers spotting on the apron, forklift traffic transferring loads at grade, and semi-tractors staging in tight queues. Our pavement designs specify full-depth asphalt or portland cement concrete sections based on R-value testing, account for subgrade moisture conditions, and integrate grades that drain without ponding at dock doors or along trailer queues.
Truck turning geometry is a separate coordination task. A standard WB-67 design vehicle needs more turning radius than most conceptual site plans allow, and getting that wrong means the building is laid out incorrectly before structural drawings start. We run turning templates during site planning, not after.
At Broadway 101 Industrial Park in Mesa, AZ, our team engineered site infrastructure for a 260,000-square-foot industrial development on 20 acres, including full grading, drainage, utility systems, and public right-of-way improvements coordinated with the City of Mesa. Projects like that require tight coordination between the pavement design, the site drainage plan, and the utility crossings so the finished grades work for trucks, not just for drainage calculations on paper.
Fire Flow Planning for High-Piled Storage and Logistics Facilities
Large-footprint warehouse and distribution buildings, particularly those with high-piled storage, are among the most fire-flow-intensive occupancy types in the built environment. The regulatory framework that governs them is specific and requires early coordination with the fire authority having jurisdiction.
Under the California Fire Code 2022, Chapter 32 (High-Piled Combustible Storage), storage areas between 2,501 and 12,000 square feet come under Table 3206.2 fire protection requirements that vary by configuration and commodity class, typically including automatic fire-extinguishing systems. Storage areas exceeding 12,000 square feet require automatic fire-extinguishing systems, fire department access doors, and smoke and heat removal. Storage heights are capped at 40 feet for Class I through IV commodities and 30 feet for high-hazard commodities under Table 3206.2. Buildings that exceed those heights must provide special fire protection approved by the fire authority. Fire department access doors are required at a maximum spacing of 125 feet on-center per Section 3206.7, each a minimum of 3 feet wide by 6 feet 8 inches high.
Sprinkler system design for high-piled storage must comply with NFPA 13, and the specific density and design area requirements depend on commodity classification, storage arrangement, and aisle configuration. Early suppression fast-response sprinkler systems are one pathway to satisfying the smoke and heat removal requirement under certain conditions per Table 3206.2, Note h.
None of that fire protection infrastructure works if the public water supply can’t deliver the required fire flow at the required residual pressure. Fire flow demand for a large warehouse or distribution center routinely exceeds what a standard residential or light commercial main was sized to provide. The critical question is always whether the existing distribution system, at the specific connection point, can sustain the required flow during simultaneous domestic demand without the residual dropping below the minimum the fire code and the serving water utility require.
Our fire flow studies start with a flow test at or near the project site to establish actual static and residual pressures and pitot readings. We then calculate the available flow at the required residual, compare it to the building’s fire flow demand, and determine whether the existing main is adequate or whether looping, upsizing, or on-site storage (a tank or cistern) is needed. We coordinate those findings directly with the fire authority and the water purveyor before the design gets locked.
Dry Utility and Power Demand Planning for EV and Automotive Facilities
EV charging infrastructure, automotive service buildings, and manufacturing facilities all share a characteristic that catches unprepared civil teams off guard: their power demand is an order of magnitude higher than a comparably sized office or retail building, and the serving utility’s available capacity at the nearest substation or distribution feeder determines what’s actually possible before a single design decision is made.
A site with 50 DC fast chargers can carry a peak demand of 2.5 megawatts or more depending on charger specifications. A four-story enclosed automotive service building with lifts, compressors, heated service bays, and full HVAC may run comparable totals. The utility’s available fault current at the point of delivery, the transformer sizing, the length and conductor sizing of the service lateral, and whether a dedicated secondary or a new primary extension is required are all questions that have to be answered in the first 30 to 60 days of a project, not at permit submittal.
Our dry utility consulting process begins with a load schedule and a call to the serving utility to establish what’s available at the site. We coordinate the service point location, conductor routing, transformer pad or vault design, and metering configuration. For EV charging sites, that includes coordinating conduit stub-outs sized for future load growth so the civil package doesn’t have to be redesigned when a tenant adds chargers in phase two.
Gas service for automotive service facilities that include heated bays, wash equipment, or industrial process loads also requires early demand calculation. Coordinating both electric and gas service during the same civil design phase avoids conflicts in the utility corridor and keeps the schedule intact.
On the Fletcher Jones Elston Service Facility in Chicago, our team provided civil engineering for a ground-up four-story enclosed facility for Audi and Mercedes-Benz service, repair, and inventory storage with rooftop parking. That project required coordinating utility systems for a building occupying roughly 411,000 square feet across eight acres, where the service infrastructure had to accommodate both the operational loads of a high-volume automotive service operation and the structural requirements of a rooftop parking deck.
Stormwater Management for Large Impervious Sites
Industrial and logistics sites are, by nature, largely impervious. A 20-acre distribution center with full truck court coverage, loading dock aprons, employee parking, and a maximum-footprint building may leave only a few percent of the site as pervious surface. That ratio creates stormwater detention and water quality obligations that have to be designed in from the beginning, not added at the end after the site plan is fixed.
Post-construction stormwater requirements vary by jurisdiction, but the common framework includes volume-based or flow-based runoff reduction, pollutant load reduction for the full suite of regulated pollutants, and ongoing maintenance obligations that attach to the property in perpetuity through a recorded stormwater maintenance agreement. For industrial sites specifically, process areas, fueling islands, and vehicle maintenance areas often trigger additional pretreatment requirements before stormwater reaches a detention or infiltration facility.
Our stormwater management designs for industrial sites typically combine detention basins or underground detention vaults (where space is constrained) with vegetated swales or proprietary treatment devices in the truck court runoff path. We size facilities to the specific hydromodification and water quality standards of the local permitting agency, produce the required operations and maintenance plan, and coordinate the maintenance agreement recording so permitting can close.
Our broader site civil engineering services, including grading, utility coordination, ADA compliance, and agency permitting, are integrated with the stormwater work so the project moves through plan check as a coordinated package rather than a collection of separately permitted items.
Industrial and Automotive Projects We’ve Delivered
Our industrial and automotive project experience includes:
- Broadway 101 Industrial Park, Mesa, AZ: Site infrastructure and improvements for a 260,000-square-foot industrial development on 20 acres. Two buildings, full utility systems, grading, drainage, and public right-of-way enhancements coordinated with the City of Mesa.
- Fletcher Jones Elston Service Facility, Chicago, IL: Civil engineering for a ground-up four-story enclosed automotive service and inventory storage facility covering approximately 411,000 square feet on 8 acres, serving Audi and Mercedes-Benz with rooftop parking.
Both projects required the same core disciplines that define industrial and automotive site civil work: pavement designed for heavy loads, utility systems sized for high-demand occupancies, drainage that handles large impervious footprints, and coordination with multiple agencies across multiple permit types.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does a warehouse project trigger high-piled storage fire protection requirements?
Under the California Fire Code 2022, Chapter 32, storage areas between 2,501 and 12,000 square feet that involve high-piled combustible storage trigger fire protection requirements under Table 3206.2 that vary by configuration and commodity class, typically including automatic fire-extinguishing systems. Areas exceeding 12,000 square feet require automatic fire-extinguishing systems, fire department access doors, and smoke and heat removal. The commodity classification, storage height, and storage method all factor into the specific system design requirements. Other states adopt the International Fire Code with local amendments, and the triggers vary. We identify the applicable code and local amendments at project kickoff and confirm the requirements with the fire authority before the building program is set.
How do you determine whether the existing water main can support the fire flow demand for a large warehouse?
We conduct a hydrant flow test near the proposed service point to measure static pressure, residual pressure at a flowing hydrant, and pitot velocity. Those three measurements let us calculate the available flow at the minimum required residual pressure using the standard flow formula. We then compare that available flow against the building’s fire flow demand, which is calculated based on construction type, area, and occupancy. If the available flow falls short, the options include looping the main to a second supply point, upsizing the main, or designing an on-site water storage system with a fire pump. We lay out those options with rough cost implications so the owner can make an informed decision before design proceeds.
What does dry utility coordination involve for an EV charging site or automotive facility?
It starts with a load schedule: how many chargers, at what kilowatt rating, with what demand factor, plus any other electrical loads the site carries. We take that schedule to the serving utility in a pre-application meeting to establish available capacity, required service voltage, transformer configuration, and the expected timeline for utility construction. For large-demand sites, utilities often require a lengthy lead time for equipment procurement. Getting into the queue early is the single most important thing a project team can do to protect the schedule. We handle the utility application, coordinate the civil design for service entry and transformer placement, and manage the process through energization.
Do you work outside California on industrial and logistics projects?
Yes. Calichi Design Group holds multi-state PE licensure and has delivered civil engineering on industrial, retail, institutional, and infrastructure projects in California, Oregon, Hawaii, Arizona, Kansas, Ohio, Illinois, and more. The code framework for industrial occupancies follows the IFC or state-adopted equivalent in most jurisdictions, with local amendments that we verify at project start. We’re familiar with the practical differences between how agencies in different markets handle fire flow confirmation, utility coordination, and stormwater permitting for large industrial sites.
What’s typically included in your fixed-fee proposal for an industrial civil project?
Our proposals scope the specific permit drawings and agency submittals required for the project, which vary by jurisdiction and project complexity. For a typical industrial or logistics project that scope includes grading and drainage plans, utility plans (wet and dry), pavement design documentation, stormwater control plans, and any agency-specific applications or exhibits. The proposal breaks out deliverables by phase so you know what you’re getting and when. Fixed fee means the number doesn’t change because plan check took longer than expected or the agency requested a revision round.
Ready to talk through your industrial, logistics, EV, or automotive project? We turn around fixed-fee proposals quickly, and we’re direct about what the site requires. Contact Calichi Design Group to start the conversation.