5 min read April 2024 — Invest: spoke with Ryan Aalsma, executive vice president and general manager of multinational construction and development company Skanska’s San Antonio regional office, discussing the notable projects the firm has undertaken, from the Alamodome to Hemisfair’s Civic Park, while providing insights on how the construction industry has evolved over the past few years. “It’s about efficient processes that have more predictable outcomes,” he said.
What makes San Antonio an attractive location for Skanska?
San Antonio is a target market for our team because we’ve seen, and continue to see, a ton of development in the region. The pandemic really had a negative impact on downtown and a lot of traffic was lost. Prior to that, we saw a lot of activity building up there and a revitalized effort happening. Since the pandemic, the city and stakeholders have focused on getting that activity back. We moved our offices to this corridor to specifically be a part of and support this revitalization effort.
What are some of the projects highlighting the unique growth of San Antonio?
The Hemisfair Civic Park project is a keystone to the revitalization of downtown, drawing tourists and locals back into the area. The Hemisfair area is definitely a magnet. From the onset, the focus was tourism and getting people downtown. It’s also a very sustainable design, with water-capture features, vast green space, and a lot of trees for shading. It ties nicely with the Convention Center and sits at one of the busiest corners in the downtown sector. Everything came together for this project and it is proving useful for a variety of downtown events and many of the events the convention center hosts. Other projects contributing to downtown’s growth include the UTSA Downtown campus expansion, The Alamo expansion, and the continued Hemisfair expansion.
What are some of the major highlights for Skanska over the past year?
Our work on the Alamodome is notable. We’ve been contracted to make a number of upgrades in anticipation of the NCAA tournament in April of 2025. Our scope is around amenities and guest experience. It’s a phased project where we’re working around the bowl of the arena and have phased the work to avoid interrupting the events the city has planned within the Alamodome, so it’s a great feat of coordination between the arena’s schedule and our project timeline. It’s different from a lot of construction projects because it’s a very mobile, agile crew and we’re on a flexible schedule. We always adapt to accommodate the needs of a tenant. Also, our partnership with CHRISTUS Santa Rosa and our continued work on their Westover Hills expansion along with the win of Texas State University’s STEM building have been some highlights.
What are some of the challenges facing the industry today?
It’s been a dynamic time, from workforce to interest rates. The workforce constraints are a continuing concern for the industry and it’s something we’ve forecasted for years. The appeal around construction has been lost in many ways. Younger people aren’t seeing it as a career opportunity, so we’re out there actively communicating with middle and high-school students to help them understand that construction isn’t just about swinging a hammer. There are a lot of technical jobs within the industry and opportunities in fields like sales, marketing, and finance.
We’ve been hosting Days of Discovery, where we invite students from schools in the area to a job site. They can see a job in progress while attending a presentation where we talk about all these different opportunities. We’re seeing more construction programs coming back into high schools. This includes a variety of classes, but there is overall a more career focus that shows the pathways available in construction.
How can the construction industry better embrace technological innovations?
Construction has been slow to adopt new processes and technologies. If you really think about it, construction is one of the oldest industries out there, so inherently it’s an industry that moves slowly with integrating new tech. That is something we are actively addressing: finding unique ways to utilize technology and AI. We want to harvest data in a format that can have better outputs on the back end. It’s about efficient processes that have more predictable outcomes, from schedules throughout the delivery phase to staying within a desired budget. Our teams are really good about not using tech for the sake of tech, but really understanding when to use a new tool or innovation as it helps the projects on a case by case basis.
How do public projects differ from private projects?
One of the trends we are seeing in the public sector is owners identifying a programming need. For example, there could be a need for a new high school and two elementary schools. They’ll go to voters for approval to sell bonds to raise funds. From the time they estimate the construction cost to the time they have approval from the voters to start the design and construction phase, we are seeing price escalation become a barrier. Owners become fixed on how much money they have and look at how they can adjust their programming accordingly. That leads to challenges where we’re working with architects and subcontractors to best accommodate a fixed budget with timely and quality delivery.
What is your outlook over the next few years?
I see continued growth throughout K-12 and healthcare. There is a large population influx in San Antonio with increasing need in the K-12 and healthcare sectors. I don’t see that going away. We need to get creative in those sectors to maximize every dollar. Mission critical is a market sector within San Antonio that is going well. I’m hopeful the developer sector will revive and there will be some relief on the interest rate side. There is pent-up demand, but it’s just a matter of time.
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