The Way to San José

"Do you know the way to San José?” Hensel Phelps Construction Co. and Fentress Architects, along with a variety of specialty contractors, are making the Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport (SJC) an easy way to get there with an ongoing design-build project in Northern California.

 In the United States, more cities and airport owners are considering design-build as an economical and efficient method to renovate and build at airports. With time and cost savings and improved risk management topping the list, design-build offers appealing benefits all over the country. Thus far, Tampa International Airport is the only U.S. airport to complete a large-scale aviation project in true design-build fashion. Other such projects include Dulles International Airport’s regional mid-field terminal in the late 1990s — also a Hensel Phelps project — and Denver International Airport’s regional mid-field terminal in 2007, led by Hensel Phelps and Fentress Architects. But when this team completes the SJC project, it will be the largest design-build airport project completed in the country.

Design-Build Choice

The City of San José chose design-build for this Terminal Area Improvement Program (TAIP) for several reasons, according to David Maas, SJC deputy director of planning and development. First, the city wanted to ensure seamless coordination among the airport’s multiple projects. The site space is limited, and the airport must maintain operations during construction. Second, design-build helps mitigate coordination gaps between architect and contractor. And third, San José wanted to reduce overall project duration from concept to completion, which will benefit travelers, airline partners and provide an abundance of cost savings.

The Program

The $650 million design-build project, covering about 1.25 million square feet, is part of the airport’s three-component, $1.3 billion TAIP. This includes a new North Concourse (as design-bid-build), Terminal A equity improvements, and the design-build projects.

The design-build program consists of new construction and renovation of terminal facilities, roadway improvements and surface and garage parking improvements, such as a new consolidated rental car facility. The design-build projects are divided into five main components:

• Small-scale demolition with major renovation and expansion of Terminal A, security checkpoint consolidation and a new baggage system.
• Construction of a new Terminal B to provide ticketing, baggage claim and screening, as well as a new personnel screening security checkpoint for a new North Concourse.
• Large-scale demolition and renovation of Terminal C to clear space for Terminal B.
• New construction of a 3,400-space Consolidated Rent-A-Car (ConRAC).
• Roadway improvements and modifications to airport parking layouts, including two overpasses and realignment of the terminal roadway.

Design Phase

Fentress Architects has accommodated the ever-evolving aviation security requirements to comply with procedures. Throughout renovation and new construction, safety and security are top priorities. To accomplish this, Hensel Phelps and its specialty contractors are committed to continuous communication and collaboration with airport officials to balance operations and construction at a facility that operates around the clock. For example, a 48-hour notice to SJC operations is standard for all construction activities, and any security barrier relocation typically involves a two-week approval window.

Budget Considerations

Initial cost estimates for the design-build projects, the scope and projected available budget did not align. Because the city’s budget and schedule are a hard target, Bill Sherry, San José Director of Aviation, identified scope as the principal variable. As a result, Hensel Phelps and Fentress Architects had to develop several design concepts for SJC to determine the most valuable and feasible approach.

The team generated numerous cost-saving designs and innovations through value management to effectively align the scope of the projects to the budget. During these early design stages, the project team was able to improve the program’s value, align the program budget, expedite decision-making and work on several design packages simultaneously. Design and value management modifications included:

• Adjusting the location of Terminal B, allowing a phased demolition of only a portion of Terminal C after a minor renovation.
• Allowing partial demolition of Terminal C by relocating essential services within the terminal and utilizing the airport’s innovative “shared use” technology platform for airlines. This allowed the elimination of a new temporary terminal.
• Consolidation of three security checkpoints into one within Terminal C, placing concessions on the secure side of the new checkpoint.
• Enhancing passenger flow in Terminal A by consolidating two constricted security checkpoints into a central location.

Increasing concession areas in Terminal A by expanding the post-security floor area — and utilizing weather protected tarmac area for increased baggage processing and security — eliminated the construction of an entirely separate baggage processing building.

Communication Crucial

Hensel Phelps’ design-build experience made it the city’s point-of-contact for questions, concerns and accountability, allowing for more efficient progress. With Hensel Phelps and Fentress Architects, SJC administrative offices, airport project teams, along with key consultants and specialty contractors co-located on two floors within the same building, lead designers and project managers of all project teams had full-time access to each other and their resources. This allows for continuous “over the shoulder” reviews by the city that expedite decision-making at major design milestones. This streamlined process avoids delays and allows input from other teams. Given the fixed budget and fast-track schedule, this has been essential to the team’s success. This integrated approach improves not only delivery time but also overall quality. It also allows contractor collaboration on the development of design documents and specification of materials early in the design process.

Advanced Technology

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been a key contributor to producing a high-quality project. The advanced 3-D modeling database/technique for design and construction allows Fentress Architects to coordinate the design process more efficiently, facilitating more accurate conflict identification and resolution, making BIM a valuable quality control tool as well. It typically reduces the production team’s workload by one to one-and-a-half persons. Overall, BIM saves time and money.

As an excellent visualization tool, BIM gives a feeling of the space within the building for the team. For example, it allows specialty contractors early involvement, supplying constructability information to enhance depth of design. As the airport’s design-build projects move into the construction phase, BIM allows Hensel Phelps to save a great amount of time and effort replacing a traditional set of drawings to build and renovate.

Speed Considerations

With an aggressive schedule, Terminal B alone is eight months ahead of schedule compared to a traditional design-bid-build approach. Terminal C renovation began in July 2007, and a portion was demolished in February to accommodate new construction on Terminal B. Construction on Terminal A began in October 2007 and is progressing quickly as well. Overall, the design-build delivery process should allow airport program completion approximately one year earlier than if conducted as design-bid-build. An earlier completion will positively affect airport revenues, the airlines and customer service. Along with time savings, the airport will reap considerable cost savings by avoiding cost escalation of materials.

Green Considerations

In collaboration with the design-build team, San José aims to achieve a green design and become LEED® certified, at a minimum. Hensel Phelps and Fentress Architects expect to achieve LEED Silver Certification on the new construction of Terminal B. Highlights of this will include extensive daylighting with glass used appropriately to obtain filtered light but not solar gain. Other sustainable elements include recycled water, waterless urinals and a study on utilizing LED lighting. Additionally, the design-build team has conducted studies to determine other green design strategies that could be incorporated in Terminal A and ConRAC. The design-build projects are scheduled for completion in 2010.

Rich Tucker is with Hensel Phelps Construction Co. and Thom Walsh is with Fentress Architects.

INFO: Hensel Phelps Construction Co. (www.henselphelps.com) and Fentress Architects (www.fentressarchitects.com)