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.

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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/portfolio/ViewProject.asp?ProjectID=1355&category=13&Category
Name=Mass%20Transportation

Houston Airport System
www.houstonairportsystem.org/