Make sure your seat belts are low and tight across your hips and your tray tables are in the upright position. Harvey Milk Terminal 1 Boarding Area B at San Francisco International Airport is ready for planes to board passengers and take off. The joint venture between Webcor and Austin Commercial was given its Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) on May 21 with the airport opening its gates for passenger use on May 25.

The upgrade to Terminal 1 has been a five-year project, says Senior Project Manager James Coleman.

The project scope included new secure connectors linking Boarding Areas A through D and the International Terminal. The project also involved reconfiguring the airfield layout to allow for greater flexibility and increased international flight capacity, serving up to 25 gates for domestic and international travelers. The boarding area itself boasts a galleria-like retail experience and a forum for display artwork from local artists. There's a children's play area and a mezzanine level that will house airline clubs and an international connections corridor with views of the concourse and retail areas.

Final Five Gates

"This TCO represents the turnover of the final five gates," James says. Initially, nine gates were finished, followed by another nine.

Some work remains with some project team members continuing to work through November. "They're mostly small jobs," James explains, such as updating some of the lift stations.

The complex project hit all its milestones despite some COVID-related hiccups. "The stage 2 turnover was scheduled to happen two weeks into the shelter-in-place order," James recalls. "We kept rolling through, setting a new standard for how to operate during COVID. We were able to keep moving because the project was considered essential to airport operations."

A Sustainable Project

The project is also expected to achieve LEED Gold, though "we're shooting for Platinum," James says. "The wastewater treatment plants were delayed due to COVID, and we were banking on the greywater systems to get the LEED points we need for Platinum, but there's still a 99% chance we'll get it." WELL certification is also expected, the first-ever awarded to an airport.