Owner Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA)
Lead Design Firm HKS
General Contractor/CM Hensel Phelps
Civil Engineer Atkins
Structural Engineer Walter P Moore
MEP Engineer TLC Engineering for Architecture
Bridging Architect SchenkelShultz Architects
Mechanical Plumbing Engineer Matern Professional Engineering

In delivering Orlando International Airport’s $262-million South Airport Automated People Mover Complex via the construction management-at-risk approach—a first for the owner—contractor Hensel Phelps would be tasked with an unusually demanding coordination effort. Not only did the APM complex’s construction directly abut a separate, adjoining project, but the contractor would need to oversee a whopping 17 separate guaranteed-maximum-price contracts.

Compared to other airport projects, the coordination required due to the 17 GMPs was “above and beyond what any other job would see,” says Drew Krizman, Hensel Phelps’ senior project manager.

With project scope including new roads and bridges, the APM facility’s structure and guideway system, a 1-million-sq-ft, 2,400-space concrete parking garage and a new central energy plant, the project’s construction would be challenging enough.

The APM required particularly close attention to detail. Support plinths fabricated of high-tolerance concrete had to be built to within 1⁄16 in. of their specified heights to ensure precise placement of tracks.

Running up alongside Turner-Kiewit’s intermodal terminal facility project added to the challenge, requiring intense coordination between the contractor teams.

In the end, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority—the project owner—was pleased with its foray into CMAR delivery. “Hensel Phelps set the example of how to successfully deliver” via CMAR and “embraced partnering and open communication from day one,” stated Davin Ruohomaki, GOAA’s senior director for planning, engineering and construction.

ENR's Best of the Best Projects 2018