Pittsburgh airport picks designers for $1B+ terminal upgrade

UPDATE: July 25, 2018: The Allegheny County Airport Authority has awarded a $15 million contract to the joint venture of Gensler and HDR for the initial, conceptual design for Pittsburgh International Airport's $1.1 billion terminal modernization project.

Gensler, with headquarters in San Francisco, is an international architecture firm that counts aviation-related projects at JFK International Airport in New York City, Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport and Denver International Airport among those in its portfolio. Construction, engineering and design firm HDR is based in Omaha, Nebraska and has participated in airport projects such as those at Danial K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu; Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska.

The two firms will also work with luis vidal + architects, located in Madrid, Spain to develop the design. The Spanish firm, which was also a bidder for the project, has offices worldwide and has worked on projects at Heathrow Airport in London, as well as on Boston's Logan International Airport.

There were eleven firms originally competing for the contract until the authority narrowed that list down to four this past April. In additional to luis vidal + architects, Gensler and HDR also beat AECOM and the team of Corgan and Baker. The construction costs are expected to reach approximately $734 million.

In June, the authority awarded Jacobs Project Management a $12.8 million program management contract for the new terminal.

Dive Brief:

The Allegheny County Airport Authority is searching for a design team for the Pittsburgh International Airport’s $1.1 billion terminal modernization program, reported Engineering News-Record.
The plan includes a three-level, 632,000-square-foot main terminal, expanded security checkpoint, improved baggage handling system and new layouts for passenger check-ins and international arrivals. The landside and air-side terminals will be connected, thereby eliminating the existing tram system. Twelve new gates will be added to the 39 ones in operation. Other features will include a six-story, 4,500-square-foot parking garage that will double as a rental car operations facility, a ground transportation center, parking and an internal road network.
An architect-engineer will be chosen likely by early summer; a contractor will be selected later. Construction is slated to begin in 2019 and completed in 2023.

Dive Insight:

The Airports Council International-North America reported last year that it would take $100 billion throughout the next five years to make the necessary repairs and infrastructure upgrades to the nation's airports. Several cities throughout the country are embarking on ambitious airport overhauls.

Last November, Kansas City, Mo., voters decided to push forward with a $1 billion renovation of the city-owned airport. After the city council voted to void a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate for development, the city resumed negotiations with the firm. An updated MOU is with the full city council awaiting approval or rejection, reported KSHB Kansas City.

Further west, Turner Construction and Flatiron Construction are overseeing a $700 million expansion of the Denver International Airport, which is part of the airport’s nearly $1.5 billion expansion, which also includes 39 new gates.

In an effort to relieve congestion and accommodate increased passenger flow, the Orlando International Airport is undergoing a $2.1 billion renovation. The first phase will introduce 16 gates and allow the airport to handle 60 million to 80 million passengers per year — a similar capacity to Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey expected to see 133 million people last year — an increase of 1.7% compared to 2016. As such, it allocated $1 billion to spend on construction on its regional airports. It currently plans to spend $578 million for terminal construction projects at LaGuardia Airport and $167 million for Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

There also are plans for a $10 billion redevelopment of the John F. Kennedy International Airport. New York govenor Andrew Cuomo estimates the project could create up to $7 billion in private investment.