Northwest Florida Beaches Airport Concourse Expansion

Award Criteria

Architectural Excellence

Ramtech partnered with JRA Architects and Allstate Construction on this project to create a two gate airport terminal extension that accommodates 300 passengers and would tie in aesthetically with Northwest Florida Beaches International terminal. Specifically, this meant creating a clean industrial exterior look with large windows and white and gray high-ribbed metal siding to complement the adjacent existing terminal. Using open web steel trusses, and both perimeter structural and sub-floor shear walls, Ramtech’s design team was able to deliver interior clear spans of 64 feet over a length of more than 112 feet, while adhering to Panama City’s demanding wind load requirements. This allowed for FAA compliant passenger gate waiting areas, a 10-foot-wide continuous walkway, and space for high-stooled charging workstations. Suspended acoustical ceilings and floor assemblies, a full airport security system with signage, and jetways were installed onsite by Allstate.

Technical Innovation & Sustainability

A traditional Type II modular building system with concrete plank floors was used for the project, combining 64-foot modules with two 27-foot modules that flanked a site constructed ramp to transition the finished floor heights between the addition and the existing terminal. To further minimize the disruption of plane operations, a proprietary stacked CMU pier foundation was bonded to the existing tarmac cement. Though achieving LEED status was not within the project’s budget, features such as low emissivity tinted windows, highly reflective white membrane roofing, metal siding with high recycled content and two layers of 2.6” R-30 polyisocyanurate roof insulation allowed the building to exceed Florida’s stringent energy codes.

Cost Effectiveness

Given the need to limit impact on airport operations and avoid costly onsite labor, the key driver in Panama City’s decision to work with Ramtech was the ability to shift work offsite and significantly condense the construction schedule. Due to the aforementioned building design and Ramtech’s project management expertise, all 9 modules were installed and weathered-in concurrent with the completion of onsite prep-work, thus allowing for limited overlap of expensive subcontractors. In addition, Ramtech partnered with Affordable Structures, Inc for the installation. Affordable provided screened, drug-free employees were able to gain access to the facility, meeting stringent TSA security requirements and complete their work in an efficient manner. The 7,168 SF of additional terminal space was added to the concourse in 118 days, without a single day of interrupted flight scheduling or general airport operations.