Kyle Field: Working through a Complex Construction Schedule

When Texas A&M engaged Populous in 2012 to redevelop Kyle Field, the entire team understood it would be no small feat to complete the largest collegiate football renovation in history in under two years without disrupting the Aggies home game schedule.  Together, A&M the Populous design team and Manhattan Vaughn did just that. The entire construction process was completed in one year and 11 months without the Aggies having to miss a single home game.

Scheduling ongoing events and operating a facility throughout a construction project requires incredible team work, starting with the facility owner, the users, the design team and the Construction Manager. The construction schedule at Texas A&M included two phases in order to complete the project while operating.

Key Points for managing construction during an occupied building:

• There is a limitation to how much construction work can be delivered each month, whether that is $25 million or $40 million. Material and system choices impact construction and event sequencing.

• This sequence impacts demolition of systems that require redundancy in services to required building areas.

• The design team must have experience resolving design issues in the overlapping construction areas to ensure life safety and user access.

• Understanding phased development of all systems needs to be considered from lighting, emergency power, power, sound, event lighting, fire alarms, WIFI, DAS, POS, etc.

• The overriding design impact is that the client must review all options. Together, at Texas A&M we looked at 44 options that described all forms of opportunities; the options were filtered by market, revenue, brand, schedule, construction sequencing and design system choice.

• This process requires diverse and experienced pre-construction estimating and construction development services.

• To be successful, we must produce this complete design integration hand-in-hand with the university.

At the completion of Phase 1, Aggie fans were able to walk the 360-degree concourse and enjoy several of the enhanced fan amenities. During the second phase of construction, new spaces including the Hall of Champions, several new suites and a new exterior aesthetic were completed to round out the major renovation that will forever enhance Kyle Field. While the design team enhanced old traditions and created one-of-a-kind experiences for new traditions to come, the redevelopment of Kyle Field will represent the most extensive athletic redevelopment of a collegiate athletic facility in history and will serve as a benchmark for future developments across the nation. And the construction schedule was an integral piece of the project’s success.