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'Tried and tested' methods used for terminal building

Keith Wallis

Despite its ultra-modernity, tried and tested technology was used to construct the 516,000-square-metre passenger terminal building.

Appropriately, the undulating, flowing roof resembles a flock of birds in flight. This light, airy feel is accentuated inside by the use of large areas of glass, wall cladding and roof lights.

Clinton Leeks, the Airport Authority's corporate development director, said that, with a tight construction deadline, the authority could not afford to risk delay and cost overruns by using pioneering techniques.

There were, in fact, delays with the foundations, which slightly held up the start of the terminal building, but these were weather, rather than design-related, construction having coincided with one of the wettest summers on record.

For those involved in the construction of the terminal building, the biggest challenge was not the technical complexity but the sheer size and scale of the complex.

The Y-shaped structure is 1.27 kilometres long, more than three times the height of Central Plaza, and contains nine levels from the automated people mover in the basement to the roof.

This has resulted in a huge logistical exercise, co- ordinating a mass of building and equipment installation across various floor levels and different parts of the same floor. The planning effort was helped by separating the construction contracts traditionally between building and mechanical and electrical installation work.

The BCJ (Britain-China-Japan) consortium, led by Amec of Britain and consisting of its fellow British company Balfour Beatty, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, Kumagai Gumi (Hong Kong) and Japan's Maeda Corporation, won a $10.1 billion contract - the largest on the airport site - in January 1995 for the main terminal building.

This increased to $11.6 billion in September 1996 when the authority settled outstanding claims largely caused by the hold-up in handing over the site following delays in completing the foundations.

BCJ is working with the AEH consortium, the building services contractor, to ensure a smooth interface between the building works and the installation of mechanical and electrical equipment.

The AEH group - Aster of Italy, Ellis Mechanical Services from Britain and local company Hsin Chong - won its $1.88 billion design and installation contract in January 1995. The value of the order subsequently rose by $397 million to $2.27 billion in September 1996 as a result of a similar claims deal to that agreed between the authority and BCJ.

When BCJ/AEH started work in earnest in April 1995, the basement foundations for the automated people mover and baggage hall had been largely completed.

A dense forest of steel and aluminium formwork sprung up to form the superstructure's main concrete columns, so that, by September 1995, work was starting on the arrivals hall and building services installation had begun.

In early January 1996, the first of 120 roof sections was put in place. Overall, the roof required 12,500 tonnes of steelwork.

By the end of the year, the building was virtually water-tight and work had started installing the first of 288 baggage check-in desks.

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