LAX TOM BRADLEY INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL RENOVATION PROJECT RECOGNIZED FOR CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENTS
The recently completed $737-million Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) Renovation Project has received two prestigious awards from construction and engineering professional associations. The Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACE) recognized the TBIT Project Management Team for “Project Controls – Project of the Year” and the Associated General Contractors (AGC) 2010 Constructor Award for “Meeting the Challenge of the Difficult Job - Builder Classification.”
AACE International is a professional society for cost estimators, cost engineers, schedulers, project managers, and project control specialists. In evaluating the TBIT Project, AACE looked at key statistics used by the project controls and project management staff to monitor and evaluate project performance. Factors such as the budget, project need changes not in the original scope, and renovating a working airport terminal without interrupting operations were some of the major challenges faced by the team.
During the renovation, the TBIT Project Management Team contended with a 38-month construction schedule comprised of 36 macro-phases with detailed micro-phasing for meticulous coordination with airport operations and security; replacement of 5,000 lineal feet of existing baggage conveyor and the installation of over 15,000 lineal feet of new conveyor as part of a state-of-the-art automated baggage handling system; and negotiating and settling over 300 change orders. The TBIT project management team accomplished this on time and under budget with over a million hours of safely performed work and zero claims.
"AACE chose to award the Tom Bradley International Terminal Renovation based on obased on the size, complexity and success of the project,” said Tom Ross, president of the Southern California Section of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International.
The Associated General Contractors (AGC) is a national trade association that provides education, training, advocacy, and resources to its members and advances sound public policy for the construction industry. Its award for “Meeting the Challenge of the Difficult Job” is for projects faced with a restricted working space or where the structure had to be preserved intact. AGC also considered the project’s efforts to mitigate environmental impacts of construction.
Significant upgrades to the terminal’s building management systems were made, including automating the lighting control system using high-efficiency fluorescent lighting with dimmable ballasts, as well as installing more energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. The project also focused on materials and resource conservation, with more than 75 percent of construction and demolition waste recycled or salvaged. For example, terrazzo floors and metal ceilings are comprised of 80 percent and 70 percent recycled material, respectively.
Terminal renovations included the airline ticketing lobby, the customs hall, arrivals corridors, arrivals “Meeters and Greeters” area, gate hold rooms and extensive modifications to two gates in order to accommodate larger new-generation aircraft. The largest single component of the project added 45,000 square feet to house a new in-line baggage screening system which moved checked-luggage security screening behind the scenes and out of the ticketing lobby. Construction took place from February 2007 through March 2010.
Airlines operating in TBIT invested $20-million of their own funds to create new first- and business-class lounges based on their airline alliances (code sharing partners). The project also included construction for an Enhanced Passenger Experience, focusing on the aesthetic, rather than utilitarian aspects of the renovation.
Video and information monitors were added to the baggage claim area in the Customs Arrivals Hall to provide a warm welcome to travelers, a color changing light wall along with flat-screen displays and public video art installations were integrated into the “Meeters and Greeters” area, and restaurant facades in the mezzanine food court were modernized with a new look.
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is the seventh busiest airport in the world, offering more than 565 daily flights to 81 destinations in the U.S. and over 1,000 weekly nonstop flights to 65 international destinations on over 75 carriers. LAX is part of a system of three Southern California airports – along with LA/Ontario International and Van Nuys general aviation – that are owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a department of the City of Los Angeles.
