A steel-framed terminal extension building, featuring internal spans of up to 36m, is the
centrepiece of Manchester Airport’s Transformation programme. Martin Cooper reports.
10 NSC
March 19
Ranked as the third busiest in
the UK, Manchester Airport is
currently in the midst of a largescale
expansion programme that
will ensure it maintains a position at the
heart of the North of England’s transport
network.
Known as the Manchester Airport
Transformation Programme, the scheme,
which began in July 2017, consists of an
extension to the existing Terminal 2, the
construction of a 3,800-bay multi-storey car
park, a new baggage sortation hall and three
new piers, one of which has a link bridge.
Structural steelwork is playing a crucial
role in the programme as all of the new
structures are steel-framed, aside from the
concrete-framed car park. Working on
behalf of main contractor Laing O’Rourke,
William Hare is fabricating, supplying and
erecting 11,300t of steel for the project.
Rob Stewart, Programme Delivery
Director for the Manchester Airport
Transformation Programme, says: “This
is the largest infrastructure project in our
history and one of the biggest seen in the
North of England for the last decade.
“The airport is committed to the region
benefitting through the scheme, so it’s
been great to have William Hare on-board,
especially with the affinity it has to Terminal
2, having worked on the original in the late
1980s.”
The Terminal 2 extension is the
centrepiece of the project and is scheduled
for completion in April 2020. The sixstorey
extension measures 160m-long, has
a gross internal floor area of 86,500m2 and
will increase the terminal’s overall size by
150%. The new structure has required just
over 9,000t of steel, which equates to 9,000
individual pieces needing more than 130,000
bolts.
Founded on 1,345 CFA piles, the
terminal’s compositely designed steel frame
is predominantly based around a regular
12m × 9m grid pattern. Three sway frames,
which run the length of the extension
provide the overall structural stability, while
a movement joint cuts the building in half,
alleviating any challenges associated with
its length.
“It’s a very complex steel frame and so the
best design was to go with sway frames as
opposed to stability-giving concrete cores,”
explains Laing O’Rourke Project Leader Tim
Brown. “This method was also quicker as
the steelwork was able to start being erected
without us having to wait for any cores to be
completed.”
BuroHappold Director Julian Sheppard
adds: “The client was keen for us to
minimise the number of movement joints,
because they create operational issues, but
this created a massive structural analysis
challenge for us – how to analyse the
steelwork with significant gravity and lateral
forces including blast as well as controlling
the enormous build-up of thermal thrusts
and stresses, caused by the lack of movement
joints.”
The solution was to adopt several analysis
models for each primary load case, as these
were more manageable. Then the team
wrote computer programmes to pull the
separate analysis models together to create a
combined model.
“This meant we were able to alter
variables as the design developed and have
the software easily process large amounts
of data very quickly. This data processing
technique proved essential in delivering the
steel design to the tight programme,” says
Mr Sheppard.
The design also allowed William Hare
to erect the extension in three sway frame
strips. Beginning with the central frame,
Transport
Airport transformation takes flight
FACT FILE
Manchester Airport
Transformation
Programme
Client: Manchester
Airports Group
Architect:
Pascal and Watson
Main contractor:
Laing O’Rourke
Structural engineer:
BuroHappold
Steelwork contractor:
William Hare
Steel tonnage: 11,300t
36m-long trusses span
the departures hall
/Braced_frames
/Fabrication
/Concept_design#Floor_grids
/Concept_design#Structural_options_for_stability
/Concept_design#Concrete_or_steel_cores
/Modelling_and_analysis#Analysis_of_a_structure
/Modelling_and_analysis#Modelling
/Design
/Continuous_frames