LaGuardia’s new Terminal B wins awards for its design and accessibility

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) has announced that LaGuardia Airport’s new Terminal B has won the National Academy of Construction’s inaugural Recognition of Special Achievement Award.

The award celebrates the creativity, innovation, and vision behind the construction of a world-class airport terminal.

“The National Academy of Construction’s Recognition of Special Achievement Award represents what can happen when we think big and build our infrastructure with an overall vision and a masterplan,” enthused Port Authority executive director, Rick Cotton.

“Six years ago, when we broke ground on a new LaGuardia Airport, few believed that LaGuardia would be reborn as world-class. But here we are, accepting another major award for a world-class terminal in a world-class airport. We have truly gone from worst to best with a whole New LaGuardia Airport.

LaGuardia Terminal B, Location: Queens, New York, LaGuardia Gateway Partners.

“This inaugural award from the National Academy of Construction celebrates the creativity and the innovation embodied in the new Terminal B, from the pioneering construction strategies used to build it to the extraordinary community benefit derived from the development of this new world-class terminal.”

PANYNJ chairman, Kevin O’Toole, added: “Across our region, at Newark Liberty and at JFK, we are holding all our airport redevelopment projects to the same high standards.”

Development of Terminal B is a public-private partnership between the Port Authority and LaGuardia Gateway Partners, which is composed of Vantage Airport Group, Skanska Meridiam and JLC Infrastructure.

The completion of Terminal B in January and the opening of Delta’s new Terminal C in June represent the substantial completion of a whole new LaGuardia Airport just six years after breaking ground.

LaGuardia Terminal B, Location: Queens, New York, LaGuardia Gateway Partners.

Terminal B includes a four-story, light-filled arrivals and departures hall with floor-to-ceiling windows, iconic public art, state-of-the-art technology and world-class amenities. It is the nation’s only airport terminal with dual skybridges, which link the arrivals and departures hall with two island concourses.

The National Academy of Construction introduced its Recognition of Special Achievement Award this year to highlight creativity, innovation and accomplishments of the engineering, design and construction industries.

In announcing the award, academy officials cited several achievements during and after construction of the $4 billion terminal.

• The ability to maintain full flight operations throughout construction;
• Sustainability practices both during construction and in the ongoing operation of the terminal, including LEED Gold certification;
• Historic community benefits, including more than $2 billion in contracts to minority- and women-owned business enterprises and $850 million in contracts to local Queens-based businesses;
• Hundreds of permanent jobs for local residents.

In December, UNESCO announced that Terminal B was selected by a blue-ribbon panel of architects, designers and artists for the prestigious Prix Versailles as the best new airport in the world for 2021.

The Prix Versailles and the National Academy of Construction’s Special Recognition Award confirm that the transformation of LaGuardia Airport has resulted in a state-of-the-art, world-class airport fit for the region.

In a separate announcement, LaGuardia Gateway Partners and PANYNJ have revealed that Terminal B has achieved the highest possible rating for accessibility in the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC) programme, earning Gold from the Canada-based foundation dedicated to raising awareness, changing attitudes, and removing barriers for people with disabilities.

This recognition makes LaGuardia Terminal B the first airline terminal in the United States to receive this distinction, which you can read more about in the September/October issue of Airport World magazine.

As part of the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport, Terminal B was designed to be accessible for guests with hearing, vision, and mobility disabilities.

The Terminal is equipped with hearing loops available at all guest experience desks, intuitive departure board displays in two formats along with colour coding to support easy interpretation and gate distance information, accessible assistance at kerbside drop-off/check-in service with call button, colour-coded wayfinding across the airport, and a calming seating area with sensory stimulation features such as plants and foliage.

Terminal B also offers the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Lanyard to guests with disabilities that may not be easy to observe, such as autism, PTSD and hearing loss. The lanyard identifies these guests and communicates that they may need extra help while traveling through the terminal.