Jet Speed

Nashville airport rehab performed quickly amid heavy passenger traffic

By Candy McCampbell

Bell & Associates Construction of Brentwood, Tenn., is one year into a multiphase renovation project at Nashville International Airport that includes building a new security checkpoint, new restaurant and retail areas and skylights in the passenger concourses.

And workers must get the $39 million job finished without bothering almost 10 million passengers who use the airport each year.

That has meant that some of the work must be done between 11 p.m. and 4:30 a.m., or after the last flight arrives and before the first passengers show up.

One rule: “If it’s loud, it has to be done at night,” says Bell & Associates superintendent Mike Phillips.

Virtually all of the demolition work is done at night, as well as welding and drywall replacement.

Work during the day is done behind temporary walls, says John Thayer, senior project manager for Bell.

The construction workers, like everyone else, must have security clearance.
“Everyone gets a background check and has to have a badge to get in,” Thayer says.

The workforce averages about 90 during the day – sometimes, it jumps to about 150 – and about 30 people at night.

Security is also in effect for deliveries. Some suppliers get their own badges but others must be met and accompanied when they deliver goods.

The contract is for five phases, starting in October 2006 and finishing in January 2009.

Passengers already can see the pair of 12-ft high flight arrival/departure monitors erected at each end of the main ticket counters.

They are updated every 30 seconds, using information from the airlines for departure times and from the FAA for arrivals.

Work currently under way involves building shell space for new restaurants and shops, converting a former office area and tearing out existing restaurant areas. Individual merchants complete their interiors.

Food and beverage operations will get almost 8,700 sq ft more, for a total of 32,539 sq ft, and news/gift/specialty retail shops will add almost 5,200 sq ft for a total of 20,509 sq ft, according to airport spokeswoman Jennifer June.

They are being constructed behind temporary walls that were erected to separate the work areas from the passengers moving through the concourses.

There, old partitions are being removed and new ones are being constructed.

Below, on the ground level, Bell is building a 4,000-sq-ft, concrete-block storage area for the restaurants.

On the terminal level, Bell is adding about 5,000 sq ft for a restaurant area at the A and B concourse apex, after putting in a spread-footing foundation to support the new structure, Thayer says.

Above, Bell is building 16 skylights - three of them domed - in the A, B and C concourses to add natural light to the long halls.

This is work that must be done overnight, but skylights aren’t built that quickly. The solution: Construct a temporary roof cover that can be hoisted over the hole in the roof during nonworking hours. The temporary structure looks like a small pitched tin roof, with a built-up curb surrounding it.

The skylight hole also allows access for a crane to lift in place the steel beams installed as additional support in the existing roof. The beams themselves are loaded through passenger gate doors.

Electrical work for the project includes additional wiring and new lighting around the skylights, says Jeff McCaleb, project manager for Sullivan Electric Inc. of Nashville.

The type of lighting installed depends on the area and includes fluorescent and LED for longer lamp life and greater flexibility in use, McCaleb says.

The second phase, scheduled to start early in 2008, includes construction of an 11-lane security checkpoint in the center of the terminal that will replace two existing checkpoints – one with three lanes and the other with five – on each side of the terminal.

The new security area will be enclosed with “water walls,” with pumps moving water from collection pools back up and over the prebuilt structures, Thayer says.

The plan is to get half the new security checkpoint open and close the existing operation that serves the A and B concourses, Thayer adds. That area will be converted to a greeting space with restaurants and will be separated from the secure area by a glass wall.

When the second half of the security checkpoint is completed, the security area serving Concourse C will become a similar meet-and-greet point.

The renovation also includes replacing the existing HVAC system, replacing some of the ductwork and changing out boiler and chiller units.

Nashville Machine Co. Inc., the HVAC subcontractor, brought in a trailer-based unit for about three weeks during the changeover, Thayer says.

Bell is known for getting jobs done early, but that won’t happen this time, Thayer adds.