Miles and miles of concrete …

A Firth truck in the foreground of a double decker Emirates Airbus A380 

 

In the last few years Aucklanders have seen a marked increase in traffic congestion at the country’s largest airport. This is a reflection of the exceptional growth in passenger numbers to Auckland International Airport - a whopping 26% increase in the last two years. Keeping up with this phenomenal growth has meant the Airport Company is constantly upgrading its facilities, including runways and taxiways, to stay ahead of demand.

With responsibility for the maintenance and development of the airport’s runways over the past 20 years, Brian Perry Civil has had a fairly consistent presence at the site. “Our relationship with the Airport Company goes back many, many years,” says Matt Findlay, Auckland Branch Manager for Brian Perry Civil (BPC) in Auckland. “And in all that time and all those thousands of metres of concrete that have been laid Firth, our sister company, has been by our side.”

“We have had a mobile concrete plant installed at the airport for about 20 years,” says Jamie Frew, Regional Operations Manager  (Auckland) for Firth. “Work on the runways and taxiways has been pretty regular over the years so it was decided to upgrade this to a more reliable plant, with greater capacity, about seven years ago. The plant is situated on the other side of the runway near the water which we man when required. This has meant that we can supply the BPC and Higgins teams without being concerned about traffic delays. Keeping the airport open during maintenance or development work is a must so the quicker the pours can be done the least disruption there is to the airport’s daily operation.”

With more carriers operating longer routes and requiring larger aircraft to complete the journey, the Airport Company needed to offer additional parking for aircraft such as the Airbus A380, which is now a regular visitor to Auckland. This required extensive work including the extension of some of the existing taxiways, the construction of a new taxiway and the addition of new hardstand areas to the west of the international terminal to accommodate the larger planes.

“Twenty-two thousand m³ of concrete was poured in the last few months of 2016 for the taxiways and hardstands,” says Matt Findlay, Branch Manager, Auckland for BPC. “We have done a lot of accelerated works for the airport in the past 12 months as aircraft parking has been at a premium towards the end of 2016. This has meant there has been a lot of flexibility shown by our suppliers and the service provided during that period has been really appreciated.”

A Bidwell concrete paving machine, which straddles the width of the taxiway, was used to lay 500 to 550 m³ of concrete per day.

“Over 20,000 m³ in just a couple of months was a big effort by all the teams involved,” adds Jamie. “This was a large section of work which had to be completed in a short time, requiring a strong working relationship between the three companies  – Firth, Higgins and BPC. Our teams know each other very well and things ran pretty smoothly.”

Jamie explains that supply used to be very irregular but has steadily increased over the years. “The Airport has a cyclic replacement programme of sections of runway and taxiways in place which requires a regular concrete supply. They’re a great client and we are pleased to be able to support BPC and Auckland Airport in exploring innovations and safety initiatives to keep growing the quality of delivery and service we provide.”

Over the next five years the Airport Company predicts they will spend $1 million a day in its development, with the knowledge that passenger numbers passing through the airport are estimated to top 40 million in the next 25 – 30 years. 

Principal: Auckland International Airport Limited (Airport Company)

Customer: Brian Perry Civil

Contractor: Higgins Group

Location: Auckland International Airport

Product: Certified Concrete®

Auckland International Airport facts and figures … There are, on average, 162,000 aircraft movements each year with 32 airlines As at 31 December 2016 the airport handled 18 million passengers per year Plans are in place to extend the airport further over a 30-year time-frame with an additional runway (2150 metres) which will cater to smaller aircraft

… and a brief history The airport was first mooted in 1929 with both the Auckland Council and the Auckland Chamber of Commerce seeking agreement with the government on a suitable location, financing and construction. Over the next 20 years debate continued over the best site, the cost to construct and the length of the runway. Following construction of the RNZAF base at Whenuapai and the use of this facility by civilian aircraft after the war ended, a decision on Mangere was further delayed. It was not until 1948/49, that it was identified that Whenuapai could not be made to comply with the new international air safety requirements that Mangere was again considered. The land was purchased by the government in 1959 and approval given for construction to begin. The first stage of construction commenced in late 1960. Excavations for the runway foundation involved moving tonnes of earth and, to allow for the runway length, some 64.7 hectares was reclaimed from the harbour utilising material from the excavations. At the height of construction some 170 bulldozers, scrapers, dump trucks and draglines worked the site from dawn until dusk. Auckland International Airport was officially opened in January 1966 and is the largest and busiest airport in New Zealand, covering an area of 1500 hectares. The main concrete runway is nearly 3.7 kilometres. A secondary runway/taxiway parallel to the main runway extends 3.1 kilometres. In addition there are numerous taxiways and aircraft hardstand areas, an international terminal (originally built in 1977) and a domestic terminal (this was the original multi-purpose terminal), which was upgraded in 2013.   Since the opening, the stand-alone international terminal has been constructed and the runway extended. There have also been various upgrades to both the domestic and international terminals (the latter in 2005). Development over the next five years will include a $180 million expansion and makeover of the international terminal, further expansion of the aircraft hardstand areas, and construction of a new five-star hotel. Work will also start on the construction of a new domestic terminal that will form part of a single, integrated terminal building. It is also understood consideration is being given for a future rail or light rail link to the city by Auckland City. Jean Batten who completed her epic solo flight from England in 1936, landed at Mangere after first making landfall at New Plymouth.