As part of London City Airport’s Capital Development Plan, there was strategic requirement to remove the existing Baggage Handling Facility and replace it with a new facility. The only place that the new facility could go was on Stands 1&2 outside the main Terminal. There were multiple challenges associated with this location, not least its proximity to the ATC Tower and the fact that the allocated stands sit above an old dry dock which is essentially hollow underneath. Add to that live Operational Aircraft Stands on each side and a live Taxiway directly in front, none of which could be closed, meant that the planning and design for this facility had to be 100% right. The facility requirements called for two lines of Standard 3 Hold Baggage Screening that had to be capable of connecting to the existing Check-in desks via an elevated link bridge over the existing main. Airside Service Road, leading to a flight build Carousel. The System also had to be capable of handling both In-Gauge and Out of Gauge Baggage simultaneously with a throughput figure of 10,000 bags per day.
With all of the above challenges and requirements, it was never going to be a ‘walk in the park’ to design and deliver a turn-key facility in this location. Utilising our modular approach to buildings and systems, we designed and fabricated a modular building that required no foundations, yet was capable of housing 2 floors of complex Baggage Handling Equipment and Screening. Using our patented baggageBoX we were able to build, test and commission the complex Hold Baggage Screening elements as a parallel exercise to the erection of the building.
This meant that the testing and commissioning phases were drastically reduced and de-risked, before the Baggage System had even arrived on site. The link bridge was designed and constructed from recommissioned shipping containers, which again were fitted out off-site with Conveyors, Lighting, Power etc prior to being lifted into place and joined together. All of this significantly reduced the amount of site works required as per traditional design and build.
As a result of our modular and turn-key approach, London City Airport were able to utilise real estate that would otherwise be considered unfit to build on. Our innovative approach to design and delivery made the whole project viable, and where traditionally this type of project would attract a cost premium, in this case it enabled a significant cost saving. The utilisation of our modular components again paid dividends in both time and cost efficiency, we are pleased to report that the facility went into service as planned and according to cost and budget, and is performing to the specification required.