Newcastle International Airport Limited North Apron Extension
Client: Newcastle International Airport
Value: £ 1.1 million
Duration: 5 Months
Completion: March 2007
Project Brief
Upgrade of existing paved areas within the confines of a busy working airport environment. The scope of the contract was
divided into three main working areas:
1) Reconstruction of Alpha Taxiway & the Main Apron
2) Reconstruction of Delta Taxiway
3) Installation of Reinforced Densiphalt on Aircraft Stands
Background to the Contract
The increase in traffic and passengers through the airport demands a programme of constant infrastructure upgrade. Tarmac have been undertaking the annual reconstruction and resurfacing contracts at Newcastle International airport since 2003. For this particular contract, the original asphalt construction on the taxiways and apron had reached the
end of its useful life and was exhibiting cracking. On the aircraft stands the Hot Rolled Asphalt surface course was
deformed, a result of point loading from the aircraft wheels.
The Works
Alpha Taxiway and Apron
The original 450mm deep excavation was increased to up to 1 metre in order to remove unexpected and poor quality existing Burnt Colliery Red Shale that had originally been used as capping layer. The testing of the clay formation gave poor CBR values of less than 2%. Consequently, a starter layer of 6C Fill was used to build a working platform on which to place Granular Sub Base Type 1 followed by 250 mm deep machine laid CBM5. A 90mm deep HMB 35 Binder course and a 50mm deep layer of 10mm Masterflex surface course, (the first time this material had been used at the airport) followed
these layers. Tarmac's suggested use of CBM5 rather than the specified CBGM-C (New European spec for CBM) accelerated the material's compressive strength and allowed the asphalt layers to be installed after 3 days instead of the expected 7-day curing period.
Delta Taxiway
Investigations of the existing pavement construction, during agreed night closures, were carried out jointly by Tarmac and Ramboll Consultants to determine both the construction depth and the type of materials present. This was undertaken by drilling 15mm diameter cores and the use of a borescope. The proposed 600 metre length was of taxiway was removed by cold milling, which exposed poor quality leanmix concrete and underlying Red Shale. Inspections showed that the leanmix had been attacked by the sulfates from the Red Shale. The Red Shale was removed down to the clay formation level, CBR
testing undertaken and a 6C Starter Layer installed followed by Granular Sub Base Type 1 and machine laid CBM5 as a base layer. The upper asphalt layers were the same as previously described.
Aircraft Stands
Stand Nos. 13,14,15,16,17 & 32 were converted to reinforced Densiphalt. On previous contracts at the airport Tarmac had reconstructed stands 1 to 12 with Densiphalt. For this particular contract, the Client employed a new consultancy and design partner, Ramboll, based in Denmark, who designed a revised specification for the stand works, which although more expensive gave the client a more sustainable method of re-construction. The revised method of construction comprised removal of the existing material to a 50mm depth and the placement of a 6mm diameter 100 x 100 spacing steel mesh reinforcement, held in place by Hilti nails. Tack coat was then applied prior to laying a 0/10 Densiphalt support layer,
50mm deep and then the Densiphalt grout. It was also specified that there was to be no aeroplanes allowed on the stands for a period 72 hours.
Quality Control
Tarmac National Contracting's Technical Team had a permanent on-site presence and handled the Quality Control aspects of all operations, including the day-to-day liaison with NIAL's Project Manager. Paul Evans, Senior Technical Supervisor, was permanently based on site with Charles Ford, our Technical Manager, having an overview and visiting role. The Client viewed this as a positive move. Newcastle Airport's technical design team were based in Denmark and to have this additional service available to the contract, with the ability to make quick and informed decisions, ensured that any technical issues were dealt with in a quick and professional manner without causing a delay to the contract period.
Site Security
Because of heightened security at UK airports Tarmac made the decision to be positive and help our client with the necessary security operations. A contract of this size involved a huge amount of vehicle movements to and from Airfield. It was agreed with Airport personnel that Tarmac would supply a gate man who would be responsible for all access and egress to the site. The gateman attended an Airport security and operational training course prior to the works commencing. Adjacent to the existing security gate Tarmac created an additional area where there was sufficient room to have a vehicle holding area. Here, all vehicles and staff were inspected and the information logged. All delivery vehicles were given a haulier induction to the site and were also given a windscreen display card so that the gateman knew that they had previously attended the site.
All the above measures were regularly audited by Airport operational personnel for compliance. This was a pro-active approach taken by Tarmac and one which was gratefully adopted by Newcastle Airport as it aided the Airport's own operational staff in their day to day running of security.
"Given the timescales available I think the overall job was executed very well by Colin and the guys. I would appreciate it if you could pass on my thanks to all concerned in the work"
Stephen Barnard - Project Manager, Newcastle International Airport
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