The San Diego International Airport (SAN) sees an average of 500 arrivals per day and thousands of passengers coming and going through the premises at all times. Ensuring the safety, efficiency and consistency of airport security and communications is critical for getting passengers and airport personnel to their destinations safely and on time. In 2021, Sundt completed the construction of SAN’s Airport Support Facilities project and in late 2021 began the construction of SAN’s new Airport Administration Building. One of the key challenges of the Airport Administration Building has been the inevitable transfer of operations and security systems to the new Airport Administration Building, which required extensive planning during the preconstruction process and coordination throughout construction. With the project nearing completion, this highly technical and coordinated move is just around the corner.
About The Project
The Airport Administration Building is Sundt’s fourth project for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority (SDCRAA), preceded by our work on the Airport Support Facilities, the Rental Car Center, and the Terminal 2 Landslide Improvements projects. Previous experience and relationship-building with the client over 14 years of working together has prepared Sundt for this highly technical undertaking.
The four-story, 130,000-square-foot Airport Administration Building commenced in late 2021 with the demolition of the existing structures on site and relocation of utilities. It will house personnel from multiple SDCRAA departments, all of whom must be moved from their current building on the opposite side of the terminals to make room for SAN’s new Terminal 1. The new building includes SDCRAA’s board room, airport operations center and emergency operations center — all critical infrastructure for maintaining safe operation of the airport.
The Big Move
Every phase of the project has involved a level of coordination and preparation for the transfer of technology and personnel to the new Airport Administration Building. The project delivery method, progressive design-build, played a key role in planning for the transfer. The ability for Sundt, the design team, the airport and its key stakeholders to start collaboration early in the design phase helped ensure that everyone involved is on the same page, every step of the way.
“The most critical piece in all of this is that the airport operational and security systems must be running 24/7 with zero downtime,” explained Sundt’s Technology Manager Rob Foster, a project management role required in SDCRAA’s procurement documents. “Not only did we construct the new building and get everything up and running, but we’re also contracted to coordinate activation and relocation from the old building. It’s a big job, but we’ve been meticulously preparing from the beginning.”
Some of the 24/7 operations housed within the new building include security camera and systems monitoring, security dispatch and software that controls everything from the arrival and departure screens to staff management, billing and invoicing. The administration building also contains an emergency operations center that serves as a backup to the main center. It has a generator as well as duplicates of the main center technology for staff to plug into and keep vital systems running in the event of an emergency.
Relocation planning has been ongoing for the last six months. The team has developed, in close coordination with SDCRAA departments, an hour-by-hour schedule to manage the weeklong relocation effort. During stakeholder meetings, the team talks through the scheduling of movers and personnel to ensure someone is running operations at the old facility while another person is taking over those same operations at the new building concurrently.
Beyond the technical components of the move, several pieces of artwork must be relocated from Terminal One to the administration building. Sundt is working with SDCRAA and the artists to ensure the artwork arrives safely to its new home.
Built on a Foundation of Trust
Foster has been involved in several of Sundt’s projects at SAN and has acquired a deep knowledge of the complex technology utilized by the airport. Sundt’s selection for this job was based, in part, on the impressive résumé of many of the employee-owners who played critical roles in previous projects for SAN or other Sundt aviation ventures. But it goes beyond the experience on paper.
“We’ve been doing work for this airport since 2009, so we’ve had the privilege of collaborating and engaging with so many great people with the SAN Airport Authority,” said Project Director Brad Kirsch. “We get to build this new home base for the people we’ve been working with for the past 14 years and have come to know and trust. The opportunity to help make their jobs easier with upgraded facilities and technology makes this a very special project for all of us.”