APD Pulse Network: September Edition

September 23, 2026

This issue explores how growth is taking shape across APD, from long-standing client partnerships expanding nationwide to professional milestones within our own team and new opportunities to connect across the retail industry.

We’re highlighting our four-year partnership with Valvoline and how the brand’s continued nationwide growth has expanded the scope of our work together.

We’re also celebrating Senior Structural Engineer Dan Smith, who recently reached a significant milestone in his engineering career.

With a busy event season ahead, our team is looking forward to connecting with industry leaders, strengthening existing relationships, and building new ones at RetailSpaces and the Zaxbys Leadership Conference. Stay tuned to see where APD will be headed next month.

From local projects to national programs, our focus remains the same: being a trusted partner our clients can rely on as they design, adapt, and grow their brand’s footprint.

ON THE BOARDS

Managing a Growing Development Program

Every new Valvoline location needs to deliver a consistent brand and customer experience, even as site conditions, utilities, permitting processes, and local jurisdictional requirements vary from market to market.

Across more than 25 projects in five states, APD has seen how decisions made on a single site

can influence the broader development program. Understanding what remains consistent and what needs to adapt is key to keeping projects moving efficiently.

This program-level perspective helps reduce unnecessary redesign, maintain consistency across locations, and prevent one-off solutions from creating challenges on future sites.

TEAM SPOTLIGHT

Meet Dan Smith, PE, SE

Congratulations to Dan Smith on successfully completing the NCEES PE Structural (SE) exam, a significant professional achievement and a first for APD.

The PE Structural exam represents an advanced milestone in the structural engineering profession, testing the knowledge and judgment required to design buildings and other structures for complex vertical and lateral forces, including gravity, wind, and seismic loads.

Dan is the first member of APD’s team to successfully complete the SE exam, making this an especially proud moment for both Dan and APD. The achievement reflects the technical knowledge, preparation, and dedication he has invested throughout his career and in reaching this milestone.

Dan’s accomplishment also adds another level of structural knowledge to APD’s multidisciplinary team, strengthening the technical perspective our engineers can draw upon as they evaluate complex structural systems and design challenges.

Congratulations, Dan, on this outstanding achievement. We’re proud to celebrate this milestone and the dedication you continue to bring to your pr

TECHNICAL INSIGHTS

Do Your Drawings Tell the Full Story?

As national portfolios grow and evolve, maintaining a clear picture of every location becomes increasingly complex.

Years of renovations, expansions, equipment changes, and acquisitions can leave building information fragmented or outdated. Documentation varies from one location to the next, and facilities that appear similar may have very different conditions behind the walls.

Those gaps can complicate remodels, capital improvements, equipment upgrades, and broader portfolio initiatives, particularly when decisions need to be made across multiple locations.

Field verification and coordinated Revit modeling can provide a clearer starting point. APD’s integrated architectural, structural, and MEP teams use a coordinated Revit model on select projects to identify how existing conditions may affect the proposed work, helping resolve issues earlier, improve project clarity and execution, and reduce RFIs as work moves forward.

Across a multi-site portfolio, greater visibility into existing conditions provides a stronger foundation for setting priorities, evaluating improvements, and making informed investment decisions.