End User: Robin Hood Airport
Project Manager / Contractor: Rotary Yorkshire Ltd
Project: Robin Hood Airport
Equipment: 2 x 500kVA with a walk –in type Acoustic Housing 200kVA UPS
It is not everyday that we in the UK see the development of a new airport. By airport we mean Robin Hood International Airport in Doncaster.
The location for the new airport is situated on the old RAF Finningley airbase site and is just off the M18 near Doncaster in South Yorkshire. It boasts the second largest runway after Heathrow.
The site has been developed by property developers Peel Holdings who have invested £26 million on providing a new terminal building together with a huge amount of infrastructure that is required by a modern airport.
R W Gregory LLP, the Consulting Engineers, have an enviable CV in the design, implementation and delivery of complex building services. R W Gregory LLP specified AVK|SEG (UK) LTD as the sole provider of equipment, service and support which was required for a project such as this. AVK|SEG (UK) Ltd were then tasked with the provision of standby power for the terminal building together with runway lighting support which included UPS with a standby generator.
AVK|SEG (UK) Ltd also provided standby power for the airport fire station together with back up for the public address system.
The new airport terminal required 2 x 500 kVA generators together with a walk-in type acoustic Housing. As this project was very fasttrack, any delays were unacceptable and consequently agreed dates were met which enabled the 2 x 500 kVA generators to be lifted onto the plant room roof using the builder's crane.
Nick Wharfe – Project Manager – commented “A specialised contract lift would have cost an additional £3,500. We avoided this additional cost and passed the saving on to Rotary Northern”. Nick also added “In a project such as this with four different contracts on the same site it is essential to have effective Project Site Management”.
The runway lighting offered different challenges to AVK|SEG (UK) Ltd but a “can do” attitude enabled the generator housing and UPS housing to be finished on time despite a very tight deadline.
Mud and trenches are often associated with the First World War but on this occasion mud trenches and concrete are associated with quick turnarounds for airport runway lights. Once the concrete bases were formed AVK|SEG (UK) Ltd supplied two systems (North and South) of a 250 kVA standby generator, an auto-changeover, and a 150 kVA UPS system. The installation took just two weeks to complete and one week for the commissioning. AVK|SEG (UK) Ltd had to prove to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) functional testing along with our commissioning procedures. This project has indeed been interesting because the airport had to be ready for 27th March 2005 and delays were unacceptable. With tongue in cheek, Nick Wharfe commented “AVK|SEG (UK) LTD should run an airline as delays for us are not optional.”
