Joint Venture Completes Gipson Play Plaza at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh

The Balfour Beatty and Holt Brothers Construction joint venture has completed the Gipson Play Plaza at Dorothea Dix Park, Raleigh, North Carolina, delivering the largest adventure playground in the Southeast. The plaza serves as the centerpiece of Phase 1 of the Dix Park Master Plan, transforming the 308-acre historic site into a world-class destination for families and community members of all ages and abilities.

The 18.5-acre Gipson Play Plaza represents one of the region’s most complex park construction projects, requiring advanced engineering solutions, custom fabrication and innovative construction techniques across 10 distinct play zones. The project’s complexity demanded close collaboration between the joint venture partners, the city of Raleigh, design teams and specialized tradespeople.

The construction team overcame significant challenges on the 100-year-old site, including strategic powerline relocation accomplished ahead of schedule through collaborative work with Duke Power. The team employed drone technology to map previously undocumented underground utilities across the expansive site, creating detailed photomosaics integrated into construction models to prevent costly conflicts and ensure precise planning.

One of the project’s most intricate elements was the elaborate stone archway and ceiling construction at the Fountain Plaza play zone. The team spent months coordinating with expert masons and carpenters to hand-cut and finish each stone for its specific placement. Custom cribbing and scaffolding systems were engineered to support the substantial weight of the stone ceiling during construction, ultimately creating a concaved, wavy stone ceiling behind the waterfall that allows visitors to experience standing behind an Appalachian Mountain waterfall.

Gipson Play Plaza was designed with universal accessibility as a core principle, featuring ADA-accessible routes connecting all major play areas, 10 restroom cabanas with changing facilities and pathways designed for users of all abilities. The Gipson Play Plaza at Dix Park is now open to the greater Raleigh community. For more information, visit dixpark.org/gipsonplayplaza.

Images courtesy of Balfour Beatty