Gatwick Airport Pier 5

Main Contractor

Bouygues

Architect

Jacobs

Value

£1,400,000

BRIEF

AC PLC has worked at Gatwick Airport previously on several ‘landside’ schemes for various main contractors and we were keen to become involved in Gatwick’s ‘airside’ projects. We were fortunate that one of our largest clients Carillion had secured the contract to redevelop Pier 5 at Gatwick’s north terminal.

Carillion had secured a difficult refurbishment project as the existing screed substrate was in one of the worst conditions we had seen. Carillion was aware of our extensive experience in sub-floor preparation and sought our advice on the best course of action to prepare the substrate leaving it ready to receive high-performance agglomerate tiling.

The £45 million project increased the capacity and utilisation of the existing Pier 5 as part of Gatwick’s aim to increase its passenger numbers and become London’s airport of choice. It includes the construction of a new departure corridor on top of the existing pier to eradicate cross flows of arriving and departing passengers.

WORK

Various proposals were investigated, and trial areas were carried out to provide a solution that was both cost-effective and robust. Ultimately, our proposal to heavily grind the existing substrate, epoxy prime, and provide fibre reinforced self-levelling compound was adopted to achieve the tight SR1 level tolerance.

The proposal worked with great success and we ultimately installed numerous finishes. These predominantly included Tremco heavy-duty movement joints, Tremco fibre reinforced levelling compound, Tremco polymer-modified moisture tolerant deep screed, In-Opera agglomerate and porcelain tiling, Forbo linoleum and Altro flooring.

OUTCOME

The senior quantity surveyor on the project was more than impressed with the way AC PLC carried out their work saying: “Work was carried out to an extremely high standard, with a good degree of flexibility where the other trades were involved too. A few unexpected issues arose which were dealt with quickly and professionally by AC PLC. All in all, a very high standard with very pleasing results.”