Cleared For Takeoff

Xcel Mechanical Systems’ ductwork and HVAC overhead rough-in work following this segment’s relocation from the remote project location to the airfield. The LAX MSC South project is being built using a technique called offsite construction and relocation. It allows project segments to be built at a different location before being transported to the final site for installation. It maximizes efficiency while minimizing disruptions to airport operations, officials say. 

A new concourse at Los Angeles International Airport is being built using a construction method that few contractors have yet to experience. 

In a move aimed at keeping the busy airport — aka LAX — fully operational during initial construction phases, the project employs a new technique known as “offsite construction and relocation.” That meant the two-story, 150,000-square-foot concourse was built in nine modular segments at a remote location about a mile north of LAX. Once initial construction was completed at the remote worksite, the segments were then transported across the airfield one-by-one during the early morning and connected to the existing Midfield Satellite Concourse (MSC) terminal. 

According to general contractor W.E. O’Neil Construction, the concourse is the first offsite construction and relocation project at LAX and only the second one used at an American airport. The multimillion-dollar project is one of several underway as one of the world’s busiest airports prepares for increased air and passenger traffic related to the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic summer games. The project involves expanding the existing MSC passenger terminal by adding nine new sections and eight new aircraft gates. 

“It’s just the coolest job anyone will see,” says Chris Balch, a sheet metal worker turned Project Executive at SMACNA member Xcel Mechanical Systems, located nearby in the city of Gardena, about seven miles from LAX. “I mean, moving a building across an airport runway?” 

Xcel Mechanical Systems Journeyman Daniel Montoya (left) and Apprentice Jose Ramirez install rectangular duct on one of the nine LAX Midfield Satellite Concourse (MSC) South modular segments before it's transported across the airfield. Another segment is pictured in the background.

Xcel Mechanical was awarded the $18-million sheet metal and HVAC contract about 18 months ago. The scope of work includes duct installation plus a long list of HVAC equipment to complete the system. Spiral and rectangular duct was fabricated by Superior Duct, also a Southern California-based SMACNA member. 

Project is progressing 
Xcel started work in January 2024. Eric Mutter, Sheet Metal General Foreman on the project, says the company has completed all remote location work, including major rough-ins across all segments on the concourse and roof levels. On the concourse level, ductwork has been installed in the terminal areas where passengers will be shopping, dining and waiting for their flights. 

Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the airport’s authority, decided to use offsite construction and relocation to help minimize disruptions to the second busiest U.S. airport, officials say. 

“LAX’s modernization applies to more than just the projects we build,” says Michael Christensen, Chief Airport Development Officer at the airport authority. “It includes taking on bold and modern construction methods like offsite construction and relocation that will enable us to deliver incredible facilities like MSC South, while saving time and money, as well as allowing us to create jobs for our local workforce.”

Balch says he’s been happy with how the job has gone so far, with his team meeting its construction and budget milestones. But the fact that the terminal segments are now set on the airfield means that it’s about to get a bit more complicated for Xcel and other contractors involved. Tractor-trailers delivering supplies will have to move through security checkpoints and then be escorted to the site. All construction team members will also have to go through security checkpoints and, like the delivery trucks, be escorted to the site to ensure airport security. 

“They call it ‘Post 23,’” Mutter explains. “All vehicles must enter through Post 23 for inspections. It takes time. If your delivery trucks arrive back-to-back, it all gets inspected. “I’m planning two to three weeks ahead every time and scheduling our jobsite deliveries accordingly, so we don’t have any hiccups.”

Security procedures are key
Balch says logistics and additional security measures are part of working at any airport and must be factored in when pursuing and building these projects. “Security screenings, and then shuttling crews of 20 to 25 tradesmen across the airfield and to the jobsite will cut into production time,” he says. “But you plan for it and then you execute.”

The terminal’s sheet metal work is expected to take 25,000 man-hours, with the mechanical piping budgeted at 18,000 hours, Balch says. He expects 15 or so sheet metal workers and 10 pipefitters will work at the terminal most days. Mutter adds that he wouldn’t be surprised to have crews working 12-hour shifts, six days a week, as it gets closer to completion late next year. Possibly two shifts and two crews if needed, he adds.

“That’s how fast they want to get this job done,” he says. 

Xcel Mechanical is no stranger to projects at LAX, having been involved in dozens of past airport terminal renovations and expansions. The company has also worked on numerous aerospace, higher education, entertainment, hospital and transportation projects in the region.
Well-known clients include Northrop Grumman, Boeing, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Southern California (USC), Paramount Studios, NBCUniversal, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center and the Port of Los Angeles.