Page 20 - AAA NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2013 Online Magazine

FEATURE CANBERRA AIRPORT

The staged construction of a
new 55,000m terminal building
2
providing for:
• Tripling in check-in counters to 44;
• A quadrupling of the size of the
baggage handling system;
• 10 new aerobridges;
• New walkways to 4 new non-
contact aircraft positions;
• An indoor taxi queuing area;
• Expanded security screening zone;
• Over 7,000m2 of club lounge area;
• New retail and food and beverage
outlets.

as a means of constantly reinforcing the “We have two water tanks, each disruption to airline operations and with
customer service culture. the size of an Olympic swimming pool, no significant injuries to the construction
that provide a total of 1.3 million litres team,” says Byron. “The challenges of
Good direction of harvested water for use in toilet building a highly integrated terminal
From the outset, ease of wayfinding flushing, air conditioning and landscape and related facilities on top of the pre-
has been a key objective in all aspects irrigation,” explains Byron. “This reduces existing terminal, while maintaining daily
of the design from the land transport the reliance of the new terminal on the operations, cannot be overstated.”
areas, throughout the terminal and into [mains] water supply.” In many cases, expansion challenges
the layout of walkways on the aircraft Yet more energy-saving is ensured such as those Canberra faced drive
movement area. From the very first point by Australia’s first tri-generation energy airports to build new terminals on
of entry to the airport, line of sight to the plants. These provide on-site power greenfield sites, away from the day-to-
terminal is obvious. A unique axial road generation, coupled with efficient day operation of the airport and without
services the terminal, rather than the water heating and cooling capabilities the risks to construction programming,
traditional (and sometimes confusing) for air conditioning. Beyond delivering coordination and execution that result
terminal ‘circuit’, maintains passenger environment efficiency, the on-site from construction in an operating
line of sight to the terminal while power generation capability of the two environment. But Canberra decide to do
decisions about set-down, pick-up and tri-generation plants, together with grid things the better way, did it right, and
drop off are made by the driver. power and twin diesel power generators was awarded the Australian Capital City
Canberra Airport has also innovated delivers an unmatched level of redundancy Airport of the Year as a result.
in a number of environmental areas. in power systems – which also minimises “Airports, like cities, need to
From water re-use, to generating the risk of interruptions to terminal be more than functional pieces of
on-site power, to significant energy operations from power failures. infrastructure,” says Byron “They are
efficiency initiatives, Canberra Airport “In terms of key deliverables, our places where people congregate to see
has committed to being at the forefront Airvolution project has been delivered off friends and loved ones, or welcome
of sustainability. on program, on budget, without major visitors; the social role of airports
is highlighted by the fact that more
photographs are taken at a city’s airport
As the national capital, Canberra is not only home to Australia’s Parliament, than at most of its key attractions.”
but also other national institutions such as the Australian National War With an approach like that, Canberra
Memorial, the National Gallery, the National Museum, amongst others, as well
as innumerable world class attractions. While this drives strong business and Airport will no doubt be getting plenty
tourist traffic, its capital status often masks the strength of its experiential more photographs taken in coming years,
tourism offer – quality wineries, nature experiences, sporting events, the snow as its Airvolution vision becomes reality.
and adventure offer and, often unexpected, the seaside offer with beautiful
beaches and the best whale watching in the country.

20 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2013 WWW.ASIANAIRLINES-AIRPORTS.COM