Contract with Dura Vermeer and Imtech for the extension of the runway signed

This morning Groningen Airport Eelde and the contracting combination, Dura Vermeer-Imtech signed the contract to construct the extension of the runway and to provide 10 years of maintenance. They did this at exactly the location where the long-anticipated runway must be built. The Groningen Airport Eelde Extension of the Runway Project will be one of the most sustainable runway extension project in the Netherlands. The airport and both contractors leave no stone unturned to ensure that the burden on the environment, the energy consumption and  the use of materials as well as the carbon footprint and the disruption to the local environment will be minimised drastically both during the construction and during maintenance work at a later stage. With this approach, the airport underscores its international ambitions as a green 'Sustainable Airport'.

Groningen Airport Eelde wants to extend its current 1,800-metre runway to a length of 2,500 metres. This will make the airport a fully-fledges gateway to the network of European destinations. For travel organisations and airlines, such a length is an essential condition to fly directly and fully loaded to destinations across Europe. The work will start as soon as the Council of State gives a positive ruling on the extension. The work will probably take approximately 6 months. Groningen Airport Eelde will also gain financially from the work, as the contract was awarded at approx. 30% below the ceiling sum of 20 million euros.

Contract type
The work includes the extension of the runway from 1,800 to 2,500 metres as well as its maintenance for a period of 10 years. The contract is a DBFM-style contract in which the contracting combination will be responsible for the design, the financing, the construction and the maintenance of all new infrastructure over a period of 10 years. The existing runway will also be reinforced in terms of load-bearing capacity across a length of 1,800 metres. A new taxiway will be constructed as well as a new line-up platform, the navigation equipment will be adjusted, and the airport drainage and discharge systems will be improved substantially to meet international standards. The contracting combination will also be responsible for compensatory adjustments to the ecosystem.

Sustainability
The extension project will be a paragon of sustainability, with a 24% lower carbon footprint in comparison to similar construction projects and with savings of 61,302 tonnes on the use of raw materials. In view of this, the contracting combination is taking far-reaching measures with regard to the protection of the environment, energy efficiency and limitation of any disruption. Most measures have already been tried and tested by the contracting partners in similar earlier projects at other airports..

Various innovative solutions
Unlike what has always been customary at airports, the runway will not be treated with the usual tar asphalt surface layer, but it will get a top layer that consists of the innovative and much more eco-friendly SMA-plus. SMA-plus is Stone Mastic Asphalt that has been treated in such a way that it provides the required skid resistance needed for runways. The electricity needed for the work will be generated from wind power.
The runways and field signs will be lit by energy-efficient LED lights (60% energy reduction), which also have an substantially longer life. The runway also needs to be raised, for which purpose the constructors will not use sand but a material known as bottom ash, which comes from a recycling incinerator. With these measures, the project will produce less waste while the application and consumption of primary raw materials and fossil fuels will be limited substantially.

Minimum disruption to the environment
The disruption to the environment will be limited to a minimum. Lorries will move outside the work site as little as possible. Only in exceptional situations will people be working on the project at night or on Sundays. The space taken up by the longer runway will be compensated - trees with extra-high carbon compensation qualities will be planted near the airfield.

Constructors combination
The Dura Vermeer – Imtech combination has been established especially for the extension of the runway. The two companies have already collaborated often and successfully, both in DBFM projects and in ‘regular’ maintenance projects as well as in renovation projects at civil airports in the Netherlands. Currently, they are working simultaneously on several maintenance and renovation jobs at Schiphol Airport Amsterdam. Dura Vermeer is also a stockholder in Maastricht Aachen Airport and co-developer of the Aviation Valley Business Park Maastricht. At the moment Imtech is involved in the upgrading of the sustainability of Schiphol Airport as an technology partner and it is working on the largest airport in Germany, a new airport serving Berlin, Berlin International Airport.