City council awards airport terminal design contract

Current terminal building of the Prince Albert airport -- Herald File Photo

City Council has unanimously agreed to award the design of a new airport terminal to Prairie Architecture, Inc. This will be the first step towards the construction of a new airport terminal in Prince Albert.

Council approved the 2022 Airport Budget in December of 2021, which included funding the detailed design of a new Airport Terminal. The cost for the design is an estimated $635,040 plus taxes, with funding provided from the Passenger Facility Fee Reserve. 

The reserve’s sole purpose is to provide the adequate funds towards the building of a new terminal. The cost of the awarded design includes all aspects of the project including survey, bidding, site inspections, and warranty period. At the end of 2021, the fund had over $2 million in reserve.

In February of last year, the City completed the Prince Albert Airport Strategic Master Plan. The plan recommended that a new terminal building was needed based on guidelines published by Transport Canada and the International Air Transport Association. 

Numerous operational deficiencies of the building limit the ability of the airport to support passengers and cargo activity level. The lack of residual space prevents the opportunity to implement passenger screening facilities required to support secured air carrier flights to major hub airports. 

The proposed footprint has recommended an appropriately sized terminal building to support secure scheduled air services that would enable a secure hold-room on an as-needed basis. Opportunities for additional functions, such as a new NAV CANADA Flight Service Station or administrative space for the City, can also be considered during the future design process. 

The suggested location of the new 1,200 square metre terminal building will be northwest of the existing structure. While the development of a new terminal building is assigned to the medium-term planning horizon, this phasing has been recommended to provide adequate time for the City to allocate capital resources to the project.

The overall cost of the entire construction project is estimated to be around $6 million. Wes Hicks, Director of Public Works said that although there is not sufficient funds in the reserve for the entire project, there is enough to cover the City’s share if a grant becomes available. 

“One of the Airport Master Plan bullets was to get the design done on the new terminal so you can be on the shelf, ready, if one of these programs is specifically targeted at airports,” Hicks said.

The architectural firms that were interested in taking on the Airport Detailed Design project required knowledge in Transport Canada and NAV CANADA regulations and were asked to consider cargo handling, the arrival area, washrooms and other building amenities, amongst other topics in their proposals.

They were told to submit pricing for all phases of the project so that Council would have an idea of the design costs for each phase and could plan accordingly. Five architecture firms submitted proposals for the detailed design on March 31. The selection process included seven criteria in which the proposals were evaluated, the firms with the top three scores were short-listed for an in-person interview. 

Prairie Architects was the only firm that had a Project Manager with first-hand experience with no less than four airport projects within the last five years, who will also act as the lead designer. Prairie was able to demonstrate that they had the most knowledge of both Transport Canada and NAV CANADA rules and regulations.

They were also the only firm that mentioned the critical importance of the Plan of Construction for Transport Canada. The Evaluation Team unanimously selected Prairie Architects due to their knowledge of similar projects.

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