AtkinsRéalis and H.J. Russell win up to $135 million to manage Denver airport's North Terminal expansion

Denver's aviation department picked the team, and AtkinsRéalis made the selection public on Nov. 4. City Council had already signed off in August, bundling the contract with two other airport deals for about $248 million in all, Construction Review Online reported. The other two were $83.3 million for the baggage system and $30 million for the automated guideway trains between the terminal and the concourses.

The contract covers management only. According to the AtkinsRéalis announcement, the team will run project controls, quality, risk and operational readiness, and oversee the planning, design, procurement and construction phases. The expansion adds ticketing and check-in space, security checkpoints, customs and federal inspection facilities, international baggage claim and more baggage screening capacity, with links planned to new east and west concourses.

Denver has not published a construction budget. A presentation the airport gave Colorado legislators in September 2025 listed cost and schedule as undetermined and expected design and construction teams to be selected in 2027, according to Construction Review Online. The airport's capital plan places the project in its 2028 to 2031 phase. Jeppesen Terminal was built for about 50 million passengers a year and saw more than 82 million in 2024. DEN is planning for 100 million, then 120 million by 2045.

The partners have not said how they will split the work. H.J. Russell owns 40% of the venture running the $1.4 billion Concourse D widening at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta and partners with Parsons on terminal work at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental, Billionaires.Africa reported. AtkinsRéalis says it has worked for DEN for more than a decade, including on the Peña Boulevard expansion.