Gulf Construction Online - FUTURISTIC CONCOURSE set for take off

Dubai Airport Expansion

Exterior view of the new concourse

FUTURISTIC CONCOURSE set for take off

A new five-level concourse is nearing completion at the Dubai International Airport. With 27 boarding gates, it has been designed to handle 20 million passengers annually. GCM focuses on key aspects of the futuristically-designed project.

01 February 2000

Work on the new concourse at the Dubai International Airport is in the finishing stage and is due for handover to the client shortly.

Part of the ambitious $540 million airport expansion plan initiated by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) in 1996, the new concourse is located 300 m north of the existing passenger terminal.

The new five-level concourse has an area of approximately 146,000 sq m. It has 27 boarding gates and has been designed to handle 20 million passengers. It comprises a steel structure with blue-green tinted glass panels, giving it a futuristic appearance. The concourse will be linked with the existing Terminal 1 by a 300-m tunnel (for both passengers and utilities) with moving walkways.

The project is a joint venture of Al Habtoor Group and South Africa's Murray and Roberts Middle East and they are the main contractor on the concourse project and the tunnel finishes. The joint venture was awarded the contract - now in excess of $160 million - in January 1998.

Work involved installation of the steel structure, cladding, services and finishes to the new concourse. Architectural work comprised the exterior building system, interior facilities and finishes for the concourse and the fixed passenger loading bridges and finishes for the tunnel. Later works added to the contract included design and construction of temporary arrival/transit/transfer building as well as interior decoration design and construct of various elements, says Mike Bradshaw, project manager for the joint venture.

The project includes a range of civil works such as excavation and backfilling and paving of roads, staging and parking areas and construction of curbs and walkways on the north, south and west sides of the concourse building.

The new concourse is 800 m long expanding in width from 65 m at the ends to 80 m in the centre. The height of the concourse ranges from 28 m in the centre to 24 m at the ends. An oval glazed skylight (20 m by 10 m) dominates the central roof of the concourse.

At the boarding level, there will be spacious holding lounges for each of the 27 aircraft gates with 47 passenger loading bridges and more than 125,000 sq m of developed areas, including retail space, operational areas, boarding lounges and circulation spaces. The holding lounges and restaurants will be surrounded by blue-green tinted glass to enable passengers to look out.

The passenger facilities in the new concourse include a 100-room five-star hotel on the upper two levels offering high-quality accommodation, dining facilities, health spa and swimming pool, a fully-equipped business and conference centre and 5,400 sq m of Dubai duty-free space.

The extensive use of natural light in the spaciously-designed duty-free complex will add to the overall sense of space. A dedicated area has been allocated to display luxury cars that can be won in the Dubai Duty Free's Finest Surprise promotion. Prayer rooms and other services such as post office, money exchangers and first-aid units will be located at convenient, accessible locations along the length of the building.

The project required the contractors to work while the airport remained fully operational - the site being totally surrounded by aircraft aprons.

Another special requirement was value engineering. Following the award of the contract, an extensive value engineering exercise was undertaken by the main contractor to ensure that the client's requirements are met within the budget, according to Bradshaw.

Commenting on some of the difficult aspects to the project, Bradshaw says: ''A great deal of effort was exerted to achieve the required level of subcontractor documentation and detailing, especially to satisfy American codes. Other challenges were co-ordinating activities with other direct contractors working on the project; recruiting labour of the numbers and quality required (at peak 4,000, of which in excess of 1,800 were for mechanical electrical and plumbing services - MEP).

"As the project approaches completion, design changes have become necessary, especially as operations and facility tenants are appointed. Fortunately, a close working relationship with the DCA (Department of Civil Aviation) has allowed us to participate in the decision-making process, thereby assisting in meeting their requirements.

"The project is in the final finishing stage with various operation staff about to move into their areas prior to training, testing and operation,'' he adds.

The consultant on the project is International Bechtel and major sub-contractors include Thermo Danto Rogeat JV; Al Habtoor Marble; Tiger Steel Engineering; Al Abbar; Prefab Building Industries; Arctic; Cloisall and Alico.