This large auditorium provides comfortable seating and impeccable sound quality for gatherings and staff meetings.
Saly Thomas, Administrative Aide in the IDO, cheerfully greets and checks in visitors to the spacious new building.
Workstations are situated in an open-space environment that allows for instant collaboration and communication between colleagues.
Bob Barker, Chief Development Officer (first on left) and senior Infrastructure staff provided “service with a smile” at the recently well-attended welcome party that celebrated the Infrastructure move to the IDO.
In the newest development at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), all sections of the Infrastructure Division, except for Supply Chain Management, have moved to the new Infrastructure Division Office (IDO) building, located at 111 Standifer Street. Infrastructure staff relocated May 14, following the move of IAH Terminal Redevelopment Program (ITRP) program management team, who moved the weekend of April 26-27.
The new, centralized offices support HAS Infrastructure and ITRP staff, designated stakeholders, consultants and contractors. The $18 million building is another strong and welcome milestone in the ongoing progress of the IAH Terminal Redevelopment Program (ITRP), characterized by Houston Airports Aviation Director Mario C. Diaz as perhaps “the most significant expansion project ever undertaken by the Houston Airport System.”
Bob Barker, Chief Development Officer for Houston Airports, said the centralized facility allows for far greater collaboration and synergies between various functions of HAS Infrastructure, along with the ITRP team members. “Having us all in one building makes a tremendous difference in quick, clear communications, and team work on the many projects we execute” Barker said, “as well as the ability to discuss topics of urgency or concern in an expedited fashion.”
“We had some delays due to various factors,” Barker continued, "but this structure is now fully operational, and the staff have been very complimentary of its features, its accessibility, and its open spaces. We have not been without ‘hiccups,’ but we are overall very pleased.”
He added that the structure is an important component in a visionary commercial development master plan that encompasses nearly 90 acres of development in the future, much of it supporting the burgeoning cargo operations at IAH.
The shiny new structure is an open-concept single-story office building (slightly more than 50,000 gross square feet) with an occupancy of 250 people. It consists of huddle rooms, conference rooms, break areas and features a multipurpose room, which can accommodate up to 390 people and be partitioned into two rooms.
The new building is composed of three distinct areas:
One – the public space of the Reception/Lobby and the Multi-Purpose Room; two - the employee space known as the Bullpen area – an open space of workstations, collaboration areas and enclosed offices for various staff members; and three - the shell space area in the southwest quadrant – this space will be finished and built out at a future date.
The building was designed with an eye to an open environment, encouraging collaboration and plenty of shared natural light. Throughout the building, conference rooms and collaboration areas have been located to further support people working together.
Two of the more prominent spaces are the large conference room and the Multi-Purpose Room (training room). In addition, there are support spaces that make up the function of an office – Breakrooms, Copy / Print Room, Mail Room, Document Control Room, Restrooms, MDF and IDF Rooms and Storage.
Overall, the ITRP is scheduled to be completed in 2024. The ITRP also includes the $490 million Mickey Leland International Terminal, otherwise to be known as the North Concourse, which is the new international gate concourse; the $450 million Federal Inspection Services building, to be known as the International Central Processor (ICP), including a new international ticketing hall; and the $35 million Enabling Utilities Landside project.
The plan includes refurbishing the existing Terminal D concourse and demolishing the Terminal D/E parking garage to create the International Central Processor between Terminals D and E, where all the ticketing counters, security lanes and baggage claims will be consolidated. There will be two concourses — one each in the current terminals — where passengers will board their planes, dine or use other facilities such as airport lounges.
One of the benefits of the new plan is room for more baggage belts, which is expected to help avoid exacerbating long lines at curbside pickup. Another is space for at least 13 gates that can accommodate large aircraft.
A record 58.2 million people traveled through the Houston airports in 2018, a 7.6% increase over 2017. Houston is widely recognized as a global gateway city – IAH and William P. Hobby Airport offer nonstop flights to 189 destinations around the world.