Page 28 - AAA JULY-AUGUST 2012 Online Magazine

FEATURE CHANGI UPGRADE
Working One-ders
It’s really the same
terminal, but made to
look different with lots
of smoke and mirrors.
But without the smoke
- Brett Wightman, associate,
Woodhead
28 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS JULY / AUGUST 2012
When a terminal building which handles some 15 to 16
million passengers a year has been working for three
decades, it’s understandable if it starts to look its age.
Giving it a facelift is where the real challenges start.
“The biggesT challenge was To keep not only to passenger flow and staff
the what we call the changi experience deployment, but also to the retailers and
going, to keep a consistent product service industries that lease space within
across all our terminals, whilst at the the building to offer passengers things
same time completing over 160 separate like duty-free retail, food and beverage
phases of upgrade across 38 months,” and other services.
admits stuart Ralls, senior manager, “The central theme we wanted to
projects and project Development, bring was that of tropical city,” says brett
changi airport group. back in the late wightman, consultant engineer with
1970s, Japanese contractor Takenaka interior planning and design company
was used to build the original Terminal 1, woodhead, which oversaw the project.
and two factors meant the same company “we built in lots of timber, natural light,
was contracted to come in and make the and used a special carpet design to reflect
upgrade. Takenaka was chosen for both the theme. in fact the carpet design took
its knowledge of the original structure, two and a half years alone to finalise,”
and for opting for a series of rolling he says. wightman notes that in total
upgrade phases instead of a full closure some 1.5 million man-hours were spent
and a massive workforce. “we realised on the upgrade, with over 1,000 workers
that would mean less disruption, and working on various phases at the peak of
anyway the workforce would have been activity.
falling over each other had we tried to do nonetheless, the only disruptions to
everything at once,” says Ralls. “we spent continuous operation were the closure of
eight years planning the upgrade, and one baggage belt, two check-in aisles, and
some Us$500 million on the project, so four departure lounges. “it was the most
we wanted the right people,” he adds. complex project plan i’ve ever worked on,”
he admits, “like a massive jigsaw puzzle. i
Smoother ride doubt anybody else apart from Takenaka
could have done it.” The upgrade now
one of the key objectives to the upgrade,
notes Ralls, was to ensure not just a offers 15% more retail space, and 21,700
series of new colours, a nicer view and m2 more usable floor area. changi was
some different floor plans – it was to keen to ensure that the upgrade offered
longevity as well as a more contemporary
offer a smoother, more efficient service
for passengers. as a consequence, the look – and that meant scouring the world
departure and arrival areas were re- for the right materials. “we used india
sculpted, with a single access model for the carpets, special fire-retardant
instead of the “multiple gate” layout as materials from the Us and china, granite
before. This, he says, brings benefits from Venezuela, and glass from Turkey
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