Project Updates

Aviation Project Wins Building Industry Award

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In late December, the construction team responsible for the Southwest Airlines Wings aviation project was honored with an industry award.  

McCarthy Building Companies Inc. took home the prize for the 2019 Distinguished Building Award presented by the Construction Industry Association/TEXO. This project beat out competition from other massive projects, competing the category of buildings with construction costs in excess of $75 million.

Criteria for the award included:

  • Difficulty in construction
  • Original construction techniques involved
  • Final appearance
  • Quality of the finished product
  • Timeliness of the project’s completion

RWB is proud to be a part of the design team for this award-winning aviation project.

About the Project: SWA Wings Complex

Southwest Airlines recently built a new, 865,000 square foot building complex just southwest of the Dallas Love-Field Airport. This enormous multi-building facility includes several unique features, including:

  • Four-story Flight Training Center to improve and expand pilot training
  • Six-story office facility including modern amenities and layout for SWA employees
  • A 1950-space parking garage for plenty of capacity
  • A pedestrian sky bridge spanning 400 feet connecting the new building to the existing SWA campus

The project broke ground in spring 2016. Construction was completed two years later in spring 2018.  

RWB Consulting Engineers: MEP Engineering for Award-Winning Aviation Projects

At RWB, one of our core areas of expertise is aviation projects, including flight training academies, flight simulators, airports, office buildings, and hangars. Because of our long history with the airline industry, we are well-versed in every airline’s standard of engineering design and construction.

We treat every air transportation project with the same level of accuracy, detail, and attention required to win awards. If you would like to speak with one of our principals about your next aviation project, please contact us.

Collin College Wylie Campus Wins IIDA Design Excellence Award

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The IIDA Texas Oklahoma Chapter Design Excellence Awards recognize the highest quality and achievement in interior design, and honor the creativity and innovation of the best of Texas and Oklahoma designers. The Collin College Wylie Campus was named the winner of the Design Excellence Award for Education Research (Design). We’re thrilled to see our colleagues at Page recognized for their hard work on this innovative design with this honor. RWB Consulting Engineers served as the MEP Engineering consultant on this higher education project.

This design project included three separate occupied buildings and a standalone central utility plant across 350,000 square feet. The project was designed and coordinated in Revit MEP. Keep reading about our MEP design on the Collin College Wylie Campus.

We treat every higher education project with the same level of accuracy, detail, and attention required to win awards. If you would like to speak with one of our principals about your next campus project, please contact us.

RWB Team Celebrates the Groundbreaking of Lake Highlands Middle School

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On Tuesday, September 6, 2022, the RWB team joined Cadence McShane Construction, Perkins & Will, and Richardson ISD to break ground on Lake Highlands Middle School . The team celebrated the start of construction at 10301 Walnut Hill Lane in Dallas, next to Lake Highlands Junior High.

Significantly, this project marks Richardson ISD’s first new school construction since 2014, showing a strong commitment to educational advancement. The new 249,000-square-foot, three-story school will feature flexible learning environments and an ICC-500-rated community tornado shelter for safety.

RWB designed the building’s MEP systems to support both student comfort and long-term energy efficiency. The district selected this site to replace the original Lake Highlands Junior High, which was built in the 1960s. As a result, the new facility will modernize education in the area and serve future generations for decades to come.

Lake Highlands Middle School Groundbreaking

The facility will use a 4-pipe chilled and heating water system to serve most of the school’s three-story structure. Meanwhile, rooftop AC units will condition the athletic areas and other specialty spaces throughout the building. Centrally located on the first floor, a STEM lab will feature a mechanical room with full-height windows.

This design allows students to observe the mechanical systems that serve the first floor in real time. As a result, instructors can easily incorporate real-world MEP system functions into their STEM curriculum. The design team positioned the project in an underutilized section of the adjacent field to enable phased construction. Because of this strategic placement, crews can build the new facility while keeping the existing school operational. This multi-year phased approach minimizes disruption to students and staff throughout the transition.

The new school will open in August 2024 and accommodate up to 1,500 students in grades 6 through 8. Perkins & Will serves as the Architect of Record, while Cadence McShane leads construction as the General Contractor.