Idom Merebrook starts €20m rehabilitation project at Dublin Airport

The project which is due to be completed in 2019, forms part of a bigger scheme to modernise the airport which handles an average of 60,000 passengers and more than 600 aircraft movements every day making it Ireland’s busiest airport.

Airfield aprons and taxi lanes are critical elements of the airfield’s network. The aprons provide facilities for aircrafts to manoeuver, park and be serviced. Currently many of the aircraft aprons at Dublin airport are over 40 years old and require maintenance and upgrading.

In order to maintain the safe and smooth running of the airport, Idom has been engaged to manage a phased apron rehabilitation project to replace existing apron pavements before they become a business interruption or health and safety risk.

Specifically, the scope of work for Idom includes an initial feasibility study to define the project and develop an appropriate delivery strategy. The engineering team is then required undertake the detailed design of the rehabilitation areas and procure and manage the delivery of the rehabilitation works between 2015 and 2019.

In order to meet the project brief effectively it has been necessary for the engineering team to consider issues such as life cycle costs of the new apron network, delivery programme and logistics, constructability, maintainability, quality, sustainability and operational restrictions.

Javier Losada, Idom Aviation Manager commented: “This is both an exciting and challenging project for our team. All of our engineering works had to be phased to mitigate their impact upon the airfield operations. There are 57 airlines operational from Dublin and the airport is extremely busy. In order to minimise disruption to passengers there has been an extensive consultation period with airlines and airside operations to create a phasing strategy that both minimises impact and is also cost effective. The onsite engineering team has also had to phase works to interface with other ongoing engineering projects at the site, including taxiway rehabilitation, the installation of aviation fuel pipelines and enhancements to the runway.”

The apron network and infrastructure is required to accommodate a range of Boeing and Airbus models including the new generation Code F aircraft, and is based on providing capacity for the airport’s busiest times of passenger traffic at the height of season. In addition, the design brief had to consider issues such as access and egress routes, design of drainage and pollution control, proposed fixed electrical ground power infrastructure and the location of fuel hydrants for fuel pipelines.

The location of the works on the live apron poses specific health and safety risks that need to be controlled by complying with HSSE regulations, specialist training and work permits. Not only is there a risk from the airport’s daily operations and other live projects, but also from jet blast so temporary jet blast screens need to be constructed to safeguard engineers.

Nigel Huish, Managing Director of Idom Merebrook commented: “Engineering works in an airside environment require very specialist skills and expertise. Major transport infrastructure projects is an area in which we as an organisation excel, we have great pride in our contribution to the Queen’s Terminal at Heathrow, along with other high profile airport projects. Our team in Dublin will be striving to deliver an airfield infrastructure to support airlines and the airside operations at Dublin to smoothly facilitate passengers through one of Europe’s busiest airports.”

As an integral part of the project Idom has also prepared an environmental and sustainability strategy designed to minimise waste disposal and maximise efficient use of resources, this includes the identification and quantity of materials on site with an assessment of the recycling options for the various fractions. This reduces the quantity of materials that have to be taken off site, and in the instance that materials need to be brought on to site local suppliers are used to minimise haul distances.

The project also includes the renewal, or provision of the infrastructure for future upgrade, of the airport ground lighting system in the areas of apron rehabilitation, which proposes to replace existing LV system with an LED ELV system that has both economic and environmental benefits. Once complete, the minimum anticipated life span of the new fully constructed apron pavements is 30 years, with 10 years before its first scheduled maintenance.