diff --git a/.run/spanner_schema_database_create.run.xml b/.run/spanner_schema_database_create.run.xml
index b94ebac09..d7101aa09 100644
--- a/.run/spanner_schema_database_create.run.xml
+++ b/.run/spanner_schema_database_create.run.xml
@@ -7,11 +7,11 @@
     </extension>
     <option name="JAR_PATH" value="$PROJECT_DIR$/nb5/target/nb5.jar" />
     <option name="VM_PARAMETERS" value="--enable-preview" />
-    <option name="PROGRAM_PARAMETERS" value="create_database_ddl default.create_db_ddl project_id=stratperf instance_id=perftest-spanner database_id=baselines1 service_account_file=./stratperf-068083077315.json --progress console:1s -vv --add-labels=&quot;target:spanner,instance:vectors,vendor:gcp&quot; --report-prompush-to https://vector-perf.feat.apps.paas.datastax.com:8427/api/v1/import/prometheus/metrics/job/nosqlbench/instance/vectors --annotators &quot;[{'type':'log','level':'info'},{'type':'grafana','baseurl':'https://vector-perf.feat.apps.paas.datastax.com/'}]&quot; --report-interval 10 --show-stacktraces --logs-max 5" />
+    <option name="PROGRAM_PARAMETERS" value="create_database_ddl default.create_db_ddl project_id=stratperf instance_id=perftest-spanner database_id=baselines1 service_account_file=./stratperf-068083077315.json --progress console:1s -v --add-labels=&quot;target:spanner,instance:vectors,vendor:gcp&quot; --report-prompush-to https://vector-perf.feat.apps.paas.datastax.com:8427/api/v1/import/prometheus/metrics/job/nosqlbench/instance/vectors --annotators &quot;[{'type':'log','level':'info'},{'type':'grafana','baseurl':'https://vector-perf.feat.apps.paas.datastax.com/'}]&quot; --report-interval 10 --show-stacktraces --logs-max 5" />
     <option name="WORKING_DIRECTORY" value="$ProjectFileDir$/local/google_spanner" />
     <option name="ALTERNATIVE_JRE_PATH" value="jdk21" />
     <envs>
-      <env name="GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS" value="$ProjectFileDir$/local/google_spanner/stratperf-068083077315.json" />
+      <env name="GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS" value="./stratperf-068083077315.json" />
     </envs>
     <method v="2" />
   </configuration>
diff --git a/.run/spanner_schema_database_drop.run.xml b/.run/spanner_schema_database_drop.run.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7d06ab6d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.run/spanner_schema_database_drop.run.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<component name="ProjectRunConfigurationManager">
+  <configuration default="false" name="spanner_schema_database_drop" type="JarApplication" folderName="Google Spanner">
+    <extension name="software.aws.toolkits.jetbrains.core.execution.JavaAwsConnectionExtension">
+      <option name="credential" />
+      <option name="region" />
+      <option name="useCurrentConnection" value="false" />
+    </extension>
+    <option name="JAR_PATH" value="$PROJECT_DIR$/nb5/target/nb5.jar" />
+    <option name="VM_PARAMETERS" value="--enable-preview" />
+    <option name="PROGRAM_PARAMETERS" value="drop_database_ddl default.drop_db_ddl project_id=stratperf instance_id=perftest-spanner database_id=baselines1 service_account_file=./stratperf-068083077315.json --progress console:1s -v --add-labels=&quot;target:spanner,instance:vectors,vendor:gcp&quot; --report-prompush-to https://vector-perf.feat.apps.paas.datastax.com:8427/api/v1/import/prometheus/metrics/job/nosqlbench/instance/vectors --annotators &quot;[{'type':'log','level':'info'},{'type':'grafana','baseurl':'https://vector-perf.feat.apps.paas.datastax.com/'}]&quot; --report-interval 10 --show-stacktraces --logs-max 5" />
+    <option name="WORKING_DIRECTORY" value="$ProjectFileDir$/local/google_spanner" />
+    <option name="ALTERNATIVE_JRE_PATH" value="jdk21" />
+    <envs>
+      <env name="GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS" value="./stratperf-068083077315.json" />
+    </envs>
+    <method v="2" />
+  </configuration>
+</component>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/nb-adapters/adapter-gcp-spanner/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/adapter/gcpspanner/ops/GCPSpannerCreateDatabaseDdlOp.java b/nb-adapters/adapter-gcp-spanner/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/adapter/gcpspanner/ops/GCPSpannerCreateDatabaseDdlOp.java
index 90589c3ab..37011efd7 100644
--- a/nb-adapters/adapter-gcp-spanner/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/adapter/gcpspanner/ops/GCPSpannerCreateDatabaseDdlOp.java
+++ b/nb-adapters/adapter-gcp-spanner/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/adapter/gcpspanner/ops/GCPSpannerCreateDatabaseDdlOp.java
@@ -22,12 +22,14 @@ import com.google.cloud.spanner.DatabaseAdminClient;
 import com.google.cloud.spanner.Spanner;
 import com.google.spanner.admin.database.v1.CreateDatabaseMetadata;
 
+import java.util.Collections;
+
 /**
  * This class represents an operation to create the database DDL (Data Definition Language) in Google Cloud Spanner.
  * It extends the {@link GCPSpannerBaseOp} class and provides the implementation for applying the DDL update operation.
  */
 public class GCPSpannerCreateDatabaseDdlOp extends GCPSpannerBaseOp<Long> {
-    private final String createDatbaseStatement;
+    private final String databaseId;
     private final DatabaseAdminClient dbAdminClient;
     private final String instanceId;
 
@@ -36,20 +38,20 @@ public class GCPSpannerCreateDatabaseDdlOp extends GCPSpannerBaseOp<Long> {
      *
      * @param searchIndexClient the {@link Spanner} client
      * @param requestParam the request parameter
-     * @param createDatbaseStatement the SQL statement to create the table
+     * @param databaseId the SQL statement to create the table
      * @param dbAdminClient the {@link DatabaseAdminClient} to execute the DDL update
      * @param instanceId the instance ID string representing the target spanner instance
      */
-    public GCPSpannerCreateDatabaseDdlOp(Spanner searchIndexClient, Long requestParam, String createDatbaseStatement,
+    public GCPSpannerCreateDatabaseDdlOp(Spanner searchIndexClient, Long requestParam, String databaseId,
                                          DatabaseAdminClient dbAdminClient, String instanceId) {
         super(searchIndexClient, requestParam);
-        this.createDatbaseStatement = createDatbaseStatement;
+        this.databaseId = databaseId;
         this.dbAdminClient = dbAdminClient;
         this.instanceId = instanceId;
     }
 
     /**
-     * Applies the DDL create operation.
+     * Applies the DDL create database operation.
      *
      * @param value the value to be used in the operation
      * @return the result of the operation
@@ -58,10 +60,7 @@ public class GCPSpannerCreateDatabaseDdlOp extends GCPSpannerBaseOp<Long> {
     @Override
     public Object applyOp(long value) {
         OperationFuture<Database, CreateDatabaseMetadata> operation = dbAdminClient.createDatabase(
-            instanceId,
-            createDatbaseStatement,
-            null,
-            null);
+            instanceId, databaseId, Collections.emptyList());
         try {
             return operation.get();
         } catch (Exception e) {
diff --git a/nb-adapters/adapter-gcp-spanner/src/main/resources/activities/create_database_ddl.yaml b/nb-adapters/adapter-gcp-spanner/src/main/resources/activities/create_database_ddl.yaml
index b83c2de07..8c816d901 100644
--- a/nb-adapters/adapter-gcp-spanner/src/main/resources/activities/create_database_ddl.yaml
+++ b/nb-adapters/adapter-gcp-spanner/src/main/resources/activities/create_database_ddl.yaml
@@ -7,5 +7,4 @@ blocks:
   schema_db:
     ops:
       op1:
-        create_database_ddl: |
-          CREATE DATABASE TEMPLATE(database_id)
+        create_database_ddl: TEMPLATE(database_id)