Aviation's
Role Vital to Houston's Global Aspirations
New Federal Inspection Services building to double international flight processing capacity
By Debra Wood
Houston Airport System and Continental Airlines have embarked
on a $600 million International Services Expansion Program
at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
The expansion program should help the nation's fourth-largest
city, which already has an excellent geographical location
and intermodal transportation infrastructure, continue to
pursue international business opportunities.
The ISEP project involves a complete overhaul of international
passenger processing and facilitation activities. It includes
a new international terminal, new Federal Inspection Services
building, new parking garage, renovations to the current international
terminal and associated airport and roadway improvements.
The new international terminal will be used exclusively by
Continental Airlines. The terminal will add up to 15 gates
and double the airport's current international gate capacity.
Continental will cover the expense of the new terminal as
well as the central ticketing area for the FIS building.
The FIS building will house the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization
Service, Customs, Agriculture, Fish and Wildlife, and other
federal agencies. The new 820,000-sq.-ft. facility will have
two levels and a partial baggage basement and will increase
the amount of international travelers that can be processed
from 2,500 to 4,000 per hour.
The building will have an INS primary inspection hall with
40 double-inspection agent booths, administrative and support
spaces for all FIS agencies, a hall for meeting and greeting,
concession areas, ground transportation area and a 41,300-sq.-ft.
central ticketing section.
A joint venture between The Clark Construction Group of Tampa,
Fla., and Mission Constructors of Houston submitted the low
bid and received a $146 million contract to build the FIS
building. Construction began in fall 2002, and the building
will be substantially complete in October 2004.
"The contractor has been very aggressive in its execution
of the schedule, very organized," said Lynn McDonald,
the owner's representative for the Houston Airport System.
The project also includes a 40,000-sq.-ft. parking area for
staff; an automated people mover station and platform; and
four glass-enclosed pedestrian bridges that will be secure
and sterile over-roadway connectors to Terminals D and E;
and an extension of the Inter-Terminal Train tunnel eastward
to clear all new construction.
The north structural-steel suspended bridge spans 75 ft. to
terminal D and the south bridge spans 50 ft. to terminal E.
Both span over existing roadways.
The PB Team of Houston provided design, construction management
and overall program management services. Pierce Goodwin Alexander
& Linville of Houston and Alexandria, Va., under contract
with The PB Team, designed the project, which includes curved,
decorative spine roof spans and curved trusses that form portions
of the high roof.
The exterior is a glazed curtain wall and metal panel facade.
The metal panels are 8 ft. wide and 36-ft tall. Bruce Wall
Systems Corp. of Tucker, Ga., fabricated the preglazed panels.
Vetro Inc. of Houston assembles them off-site, brings them
in and installs them.
"[The building] has an architectural flare to it that
will make it distinctive when it is finished out," said
Eric Potts, deputy director for planning, design and construction
for Houston Airport System.
The FIS basement will house screening equipment to handle
luggage from arriving international passengers connecting
with outgoing domestic flights. The first floor contains a
lobby and baggage claim and recheck areas. Passengers connecting
to domestic flights must pick up their bags, pass through
customs and recheck them.
Screening for explosives takes place after the bags are checked.
The primary inspection hall is on the second floor along with
access to sterile bridges, for passengers who have passed
through security, and secure bridges, for credentialed employees,
which connect FIS to international terminals D and E. The
existing terminals line up on either side of the active construction
project. McDonald called it a logistical challenge faced everyday.
On the other two sides of the site sit an active runway and
a parking garage under construction by a different contractor.
Manhattan Construction of Houston is building the $32 million,
eight-level, poured-in-place concrete parking garage, which
will hold 2,500 cars. The exterior has precast concrete panels
on the lower floors and an aluminum window wall system with
glass and perforated aluminum panels on the upper floors.
It is scheduled for completion in December.
Clark/Mission and airport operations staff meet daily and
weekly to schedule deliveries and coordinate space with adjacent
construction projects. Other contractors are installing a
people mover guideway, cars and controls.
"We're in the middle of an active environment, where
you can't make any mistakes," said Jim Ansari, vice president
of operations and executive in charge of the project for Clark.
"If someone gets a flat tire, there goes the passengers
for half an hour."
Workers park 2 mi. off-site and are bused to the job. About
250 people are currently at work on the project. Ansari expects
the workforce to peak by year-end at 400.
Airport traffic flows in and out of the airport next to the
construction site, and construction vehicles share the road
with the public.
"Movement of people, equipment and materials is done
at off-peak hours," McDonald said. "Lay-down, in
general, is off-site. We have other areas at the airport where
the contractor has to stage materials and equipment and bring
them in as needed."
Much of the steel was brought in between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Two cranes operate on special roadways built in the basement
of the FIS building. An underground tunnel constructed during
a previous project bisects the FIS, effectively cutting the
jobsite into two narrow strips.
That tunnel could not support heavy equipment, so Clark/Mission
constructed temporary connector bridges that run over the
tunnel and allow trucks and heavy equipment to move in a loop
around the project. As the job progresses and cranes must
change position, crews move the roads accordingly.
"The structural steel on this job is intricate and nicely
detailed," Ansari said. "Getting resources to the
job and logistically setting it up is one of the biggest challenges."
Each section of the building is built on 60-ft.-tall composite
columns. They are 18- to 36-in. steel tubes filled with fiber-reinforced
concrete. The structural steel roof trusses were placed before
the concrete, creating limited access for concrete trucks.
"One of the interesting dilemmas we had was filling these
columns with concrete, after the structural steel was erected,"
Ansari said. "So we attached 6-in. nipples to the bottom
of the columns and are using a screw pump to pump the concrete
up into them. It was much faster, much cleaner and better
quality because there are no voids in the column."
The FIS building has 400,000 sq ft. of epoxy terrazzo flooring,
which crews will begin placing this fall.
Ansari said it was one of the largest terrazzo jobs he has
seen. He said terrazzo is versatile, goes in quickly and stands
up well. Three-quarters of the flooring is art terrazzo, and
artists will participate in the final design and disbursement
of the marble, metallic and glass chips.
Subcontractors include W & W Steel Co. of Oklahoma City,
steel fabrication and erection; Rago Concrete of Houston,
formed and placed structural and flat concrete; Pollock Summit
Electric of Houston, electrical; Gowan Inc. of Houston, mechanical
and plumbing; and Environmental Interiors of Hudson, N.H.,
ornamental metalwork and impact-resistant wall protection.
"We've been very fortunate to have a very professional
and competent subcontractor community," said Ansari, who
added that the project is progressing ahead of schedule.
| Federal
Inspection Services Building Project Team |
| OWNER:
|
Houston Airport System,
George Bush Intercontinental Airport |
| GENERAL
CONTRACTOR: |
A joint venture of The
Clark Construction Group, Tampa, Fla., and Mission Constructors,
Houston |
| DESIGN,
CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT: |
The PB Team, Houston |
| ARCHITECT: |
Pierce Goodwin Alexander
& Linville, Houston |
USEFUL SOURCES
Clark Construction Group
http://www.clarkus.com/
Houston Airport System
www.houstonairportsystem.org/
|
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