Infrastructure, Construction & Developments

[Aviador]

I know what you mean, bloody dark cold long nights and short days. Roll on summer!

 

[Ray Finkle]

Airport's access to all areas

Birmingham Airport’s new runway extension will allow it to offer direct flights to China and South America, and to achieve that aim the city council is diverting a road. NCE reports

Birmingham Airport chief executive Paul Kehoe braved a freezing day a couple of weeks ago to dig a symbolic first spade in the ground as a way of marking the official start of works to extend the operational runway by 405m.

That small distance will put Birmingham Airport and the West Midlands region in direct flight reach of the economies and tourist destinations of China, South America, South Africa and the west coast of America.

It will give the big jets the extra runway to take off loaded with more fuel so they can fly passengers a further 2,000 plus miles past Dubai and New York, where they already go, and on to new destinations and trading partners.

As Kehoe put his foot on the shovel, carriers British Airways (BA) and Virgin were announcing that the extra reach at Birmingham would not attract them and would not be the answer to relieving airport capacity in the South East.

But Kehoe was unconcerned. “I know BA and Virgin are saying no way. But airlines like Emirates and Lufthansa aren’t. Airlines that can’t get into the South East will come here - we are confident about that,” he said. “The project is going to make a monumental difference to the airport and the Midlands.”

Every year 3.3M people drive past Birmingham Airport to get to South East airports like Heathrow and Gatwick adding to congestion on the roads and at the airports themselves. “It makes no sense,” Kehoe said. “The strong economic profile of the Midlands means that businesses are crying out for direct connectivity from their local airport.”

There is capacity at Birmingham to double passenger numbers from 9M to 18M a year, and the runway extension allows an increase to 36M in the future. West Midlands Economic Forum estimates that passenger growth would create more than 243,000 jobs in the area.

The project has been an ambition for over 20 years, explains the airport’s development director Will Heynes. But until now there had never been a scheme that made economic sense.

The problem is that the airport and the end of its runway is bounded to the south by the busy A45 dual carriageway which links the M42 and Birmingham city centre.

Options had been considered, such as putting the road in tunnel under the airport to allow for the extension. “But apart from being costly this would have created operational challenges and security issues and so was discounted,” says Heynes.

“We work very collaboratively with the local community,” he adds, “and we wanted to develop the runway to the southaway from the 150,000 residents in the north.”

What has made the difference now is that the airport’s ambitions have coincided with Birmingham City Council’s vision to add a public transport corridor initially for buses but ultimately for future tram extensions to the A45.

Both clients have come together to co-ordinate their projects to achieve their joint aims. The A45 is being diverted and widened creating land on which the runway can be extended.

“Carrying out the extension of the runway at the same time as the A45 improvements has created a scheme that stands economic scrutiny,” Heynes says.

The co-operation goes further. Although there are two clients and two projects there is just one construction contract and one contractor for both - the Volker- Fitzpatrick Colas joint venture (VCJV), which is currently almost halfway through construction of the new road.

When traffic switches to the new route in April or May next year the runway extension can be implemented.

Including land acquisition and project management, the airport scheme represents an investment of £45M, and the road £25M. Birmingham Airport is contributing £7M towards the cost of the road project.

The single construction job to build both is worth £45M, and operating the two jobs as one has produced significant savings.

“The scheme to construct the road is generating surplus material that is being used to develop the airfield and the airfield site,” Heynes says.

VCJV project director Chris Sedman explains: “We are digging out 300,000m3 of clay for the road. The poor quality clay is destined for airfield bunds but 50-60,000m3 of the good quality material will be structural fill for the runway.

“If we hadn’t been able to reuse spoil on the airport project we would have been taking around 250,000m3 off site for disposal.”

Cost savings from that alone are estimated at around £3M. “And the environmental impact of all those lorry movements would have been a huge issue for planning,” Sedman adds. “This way they have not been needed.”

Savings were also generated in the procurement process. “We didn’t want to pay two sets of overheads and prelims, management and design costs in order to price the job,” Heynes says. “And there were clear programme linkages. You could see the relation of the road and airfield would have an impact on the way each project worked, and we wanted to avoid any unnecessary programme constraints, clashes and contractual pitfalls.”

As Sedman says: “I don’t see the job as two schemes. I have just one programme that accommodates everything.”

Crucial in the procurement process was the ability to demonstrate to the local authority client that constructing two separate projects as one scheme was the best value option for the public investment.

The job was bid as three lots - one airport, one road and one combined scheme. And five bidders went through a competitive dialogue process.

“Once we had identified the huge amount of surplus material that would have had to be moved, not to go with the combined scheme would have increased the cost significantly,” Heynes says.

“Competitive dialogue was a very helpful process,” Sedman adds. “It teases out all the issues and you are able to generate enough trust and confidence in confidentiality for the supply chain to come up with innovative and competitive solutions.”

The final decision was not just down to price, Heynes says. All bidders were evaluated on cost, programme, quality, environmental performance and job creation.

Creation of local employment and training opportunities was important for Birmingham City Council, and each partner in VCJV has taken on two civil engineering apprentices who are learning their skills on the project.

VolkerFitzpatrick and Colas are among the country’s leading airfield contractors and, combined with Colas’s runway resurfacing expertise, were an attractive joint venture to employ.

“We liked that we were employing a jv that would not subcontract the work,” Heynes says. “We believe we have the team to do the best job.”


The runway project

The runway pavement is being extended by 450m, including an additional 405m of operational runway, taking its operational length to 3,003m.

The runway is 60m wide, 46m for operation plus two 7m wide shoulders and a full parallel taxiway. Once the extension is complete the contract also includes resurfacing, which is scheduled for November 2013 to February 2014 when the airport will halt all night flights. Designs are being finalised.

“At the moment we are establishing methodologies, operating heights and where the batching plant will go,” says VCJV site agent Brandi Davey.

Surfacing for the runway will be Marshall asphalt, as Birmingham has a cross wind runway and the grooving facilitates drainage. But alternatives like high friction BBA are being considered for the shoulders and taxiways.

“We have to hope the weather will be kind while we are laying,” says Davey. “Marshall asphalt has a large amount of fines and the rain tends to pluck them out. If it is too cold the fines mean the surface goes off too quickly.”

The road project

The site team is creating a 60m wide trace over 1,800m for the new dual carriageway, two 7.5m wide passenger transport lanes and the airport perimeter road.

In total that makes close to 8km of new road construction. The route starts at grade and dips into a 6m deep cutting opposite the end of the extended runway.

The biggest challenges on the road job are the weather and £7M of utility diversions. The low lying clay site is criss-crossed by water courses and completion of a new drainage culvert to catch all the water has significantly improved site conditions.

There are over 30 utility services to move, with the tie ins being top of the risk register.

April and May next year is the target for moving traffic onto the new road, with the route fully complete by July.

http://www.nce.co.uk/features/transport ... entID=1079

 

[Aviador]

Only just seen the link to the Birmingham airport runway extension website. Really like it.

www.hellomoreworld.co.uk

 

[Ray Finkle]

There's some decent info and some good pics with regular updates on the VolkerFitzpatrick Colas facebook site.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/VolkerFit ... 2045683214

 

[Ray Finkle]

Another clip

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WXdn9UcCc0Q[/video]

 

[Ray Finkle]

The new compass base seems to be finished, stand 506 is now closed and a fence has gone up around where the Monarch hangar is to be built. Kilo taxiway will be closed during construction.

 

[Aviador]

Sure does look like it's coming on now. Couple of questions, will the airport have to reduce the landing distance available through the works? Also, will the ILS and CAT III be taken out of service at some stage during the work?

 

[Ray Finkle]

The ILS and CAT III will be taken out during the link up which I believe is November, so right in foggy season

Not sure if the LDA will be reduced.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Only had a brief glimpse driving past but there was lots of machinery on the site of the new hangar. Hopefully works are about to begin.

 

[Ray Finkle]

The bottom end of the long stay car park where the new taxiway will be is now fenced off with some digging going on. Across the other side of the A45 the ground has been well built up where the runway will be. Hopefully (weather permitting) I'll grab some pictures this weekend.

The public consultation over the change of airspace starts tomorrow.

http://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/meta ... ation.aspx

BIRMINGHAM Airport's runway extension will see winners and losers in the surrounding rural villages - The Observer can reveal.

The airport is tomorrow (Friday) embarking on a three-month consultation period to gauge public opinion on revised flight paths which will be created by the extension.

Rural villages to the south of the airport stand to be most affected by the changes - some for the better and some for the worst.

While the new flightpath will see aircraft fly further away from Catherine-de-Barnes, Eastcote, Knowle and Meriden it will push them closer to some parts of Hampton in Arden, Barston and Balsall Common.

Communities to the north of the site will meanwhile benefit from reduced noise pollution.

To give local people an opportunity to find out more about the proposed airspace changes the airport is holding a series of roadshows in Catherine-de-Barnes, Barston, Eastcote, Meriden, Berkswell, Hampton-in-Arden, Marston Green, Bickenhill, Balsall Common, Knowle and Sheldon in the coming weeks.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will make a decision whether or not to approve the new routes once the results of the consultation, together with the airport’s proposals, have been considered.

Speaking ahead of the consultation process John Morris, the Airport’s Public Affairs Director, attempted to calm residents' fears over the impact of noise in their communities created by the change in flight paths and announced the airport's decision to reduce its 3km noise corridor down to 2km.

He said: “Aircraft will be able to fly more precisely on the centre line of a flight path which means that we no longer need such a wide noise corridor.

"By narrowing the corridor in which aircraft fly, and as more airlines introduce newer aircraft installed with the latest navigational aids, even fewer communities could be over-flown in the future.”

He added: “We take the concerns and views of all of our stakeholders very seriously and encourage our neighbours to come along to our roadshows to find out how these changes may impact them.”


* Make sure you read next week's Observer for all the reaction from the communities most affected by the runway extension and to have your say on the proposals write to or e-mail the editor at the usual addresses.

Full details of the proposals and the roadshows can be accessed via the Airport’s website http://www.birminghamairport.co.uk/airspace or obtained by calling 0121 767 7433.


The times, dates and venues of the roadshows are:



* Catherine-de-Barnes - Village Hall: Monday, January 14 from 10am until 12noon and Friday, February 8 from 7pm until 9pm.

* Barston and Eastcote – Barston Memorial Institute: Thursday, January 17 from 10am until 12noon and Monday, February 4 from 7pm until 9pm.

* Meriden - Meriden Village Hall: Friday, January 18 from 10am until 12noon and Wednesday, February 6 from 7pm until 9pm.

* Berkswell - The Reading Room: Tuesday, January 15 from 2pm until 4pm and Wednesday, January 30 from 7pm until 9pm.

* Hampton in Arden - Fentham Hall: Monday, January 14 from 7pm until 9pm and Friday, February 8 from 10am until 12noon.



* Marston Green - Marston Green Parish Hall: Tuesday, January 15 from 7pm until 9pm and Tuesday, February 5 from 10am until 12noon.

* Bickenhill - St. Peters Bickenhill Church Hall: Wednesday, January 16 from 7pm until 9pm and Monday, February 4 from 10am until 12noon.

* Balsall Common – Balsall Common Village Hall: Thursday, January 17 from 7pm until 9pm and Wednesday, February 6 from 2pm until 4pm.

* Knowle - Knowle Village Hall: Monday, January 21 from 10am until 12noon and Monday, January 28 from 7pm until 9pm.

* Sheldon – Mapledean Primary School: Friday, January 18 from 7pm until 9pm and Thursday, February 7 from 10am until 12noon.

http://www.solihullobserver.co.uk/2013/ ... 59918.html

 

[Ray Finkle]

Further to the above

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zpPn0_MdBrc[/video]

 

[Ray Finkle]

The area of long stay car park now closed to construct the taxiiway. The site where cars are still parked would make a great viewing area.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Runway update.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rm1pRc2uAoA[/video]

 

[Aviador]

Thanks again for the update Ray. Out of interest, where was the video of the Emirates departing filmed from?

 

[LBA787]

Thanks for taking the time out to video the works ray. It looks like a real playground for those dumper trucks!

Out of interest, where was the video of the Emirates departing filmed from?

Aviador the video of the emirates 777 was most definitely taken from the new BHX ATC tower.

:crazy:

 

[Ray Finkle]

Although I'd love to I'm afraid I cannot take the credit for the footage of the runway, that must go to youtube user flugsnug yo :hatsoff:

He/she has some cracking videos, there's a great one of a C-17 medevac flight which I'll put on the videos thread.

 

[Aviador]

Thanks for taking time to post them anyway.

 

[Ray Finkle]

No problem at all, the clips are pretty much keeping me updated at the moment too

 

[Ray Finkle]

A nice aerial view of the site.

[video]http://vimeo.com/57587214[/video]

 

[Elmdon80slad]

A nice view I have found of the runway works, they are realy moving on with the excavations, does'nt It make the airport look alot longer with that Increse In runway size...?