Farrans flies high with airport expansion

Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) is taking off with a big expansion programme. Phase one of its terminal extension is due to be handed over this summer, with the second phase of this £100m regeneration project due to start shortly.

CIOB company member Farrans is undertaking both phases. Its regional director Cathal Montague says: “We are pleased to be continuing our strong working relationship with LBA as they progress with this important improvement project. Our experience in the aviation sector has enabled us to work collaboratively with our client to ensure the airport’s operations have continued without disruption, and we will be putting in place similar plans as we move forwards.”

Proudly calling itself ‘Yorkshire’s Airport’, LBA may not be the only airport in England’s largest county, but it is the one that can offer international flights. Last year, just under four million passengers used the facility and these figures are expected to increase. Consequently, the airport is seeking to expand its facilities and services; there is an aspiration to offer flights beyond European destinations to North America and the Middle East.

Central to the plans, and comprising the first phase of this privately funded £100m scheme, known as LBA:REGEN, is the construction of a 9,500 sq m terminal extension.

The three-storey steel-framed building will create additional aircraft stands, more seating, faster security, new shops and eateries, a larger baggage reclaim area and immigration hall, as well as improved access for passengers with restricted mobility.

Once the extension is open, the second phase will involve a full refurbishment of the existing terminal. This will see new structural steel elements being installed in multiple sub-phases to minimise disruption to customers and allow the airport to operate as close to normal as possible.

Due to complete in winter 2026, phase two will include the creation of new staircases, lifts and escalators to provide an open-plan feel which will complement the new lighter and brighter terminal extension. Remodelled internal spaces will allow improved passenger movement and there will be brand new security and arrivals facilities, World Duty Free and shops, bars and restaurants.

Rising up on a plot previously occupied by a surface car park, the terminal extension connects to the eastern end of the existing facility. The new structure is 120 metres long x 41 metres wide and reaches a maximum height of 15.5 metres at the apex of its peaked roof.

“The requirement for long internal spans and a tight construction programme meant that a steel frame with composite beams and metal decking were the obvious material choices,” says Farrans project manager Darren McIvor MCIOB.

To this end, the building is designed around a regular column grid, with perimeter members set at 5.5m and 6.25m spaces, while internally the pattern is 12.5m x 11m. The large internal structural grid was driven by the client’s desire to have an open-plan and flexible building that would allow unhindered passenger movement through the terminal.

The lowest level of the terminal extension’s three floors is partially subterranean, due to the site sloping in an easterly direction, away from the existing buildings.

This level will accommodate baggage handling and will have access to and from airside operations, via a ramp.

The new steel frame includes a passenger bridge, which spans over the baggage tug ramp and connects the new terminal building to an existing walkway that serves a number of remote gates.

The bridge is a 36m long, four-span structure, with 2.7m high Warren truss girders on each side that support a floor deck at the bottom chord level and a roof at the top chord level.

There are some tight constraints, and the design of the bridge had to ensure that baggage tugs have enough clearance to pass underneath, while the structure also had to connect to the existing passenger corridor and aircraft stands which are located on a graded aircraft apron.

Above the baggage handling area, the middle floor of the new building will have arrivals and immigration areas alongside baggage reclaim, while the uppermost first floor will be given over to new shops and eateries. Both two upper levels will connect directly into the existing terminal, a factor that has played a significant role in the design and choice of steelwork members.

The floor-to-ceiling heights in the existing buildings are not very generous and a solution needed to be found whereby this design could be matched, to create a free-flowing terminal, while also accommodating the many services needed in the new extension.

“We chose composite Westok cellular beams, as they allowed us to have an acceptable floor-to-ceiling height, as the services are distributed within the girder’s depth,” says structural engineer Dudleys’ senior engineer Luke Drinkwater.

Westoks account for the majority of the two levels of floor beams used throughout the scheme. They are typically up to 850mm deep sections with 500mm diameter service cells.

As well as accommodating services, the beams also provide a lightweight and efficient method to form the required long spans. They also support metal decking and a concrete topping for a composite flooring solution, which on completion helps with the structure’s overall stability, by distributing horizontal load across the footprint of the building to vertical cross bracings.

All of the bracing, columns, beams and services will be left exposed within the completed building. This facilitates easy access for future M&E modifications, while also creating the desired modern industrial-looking interior which most airport buildings prefer nowadays.

Although primarily a braced frame, there is one area that had to be designed differently. The zone that links the new build and existing terminal is slightly remote from the line of primary bracing, so one bay of columns and beams have been portalised to limit lateral deflections, but also to enable easy passenger movement by avoiding the need for large obtrusive bracings.

According to the airport, by 2030, LBA:REGEN has the potential to create 1,500 new direct jobs and 4,000 indirect jobs, as well as contributing almost £1bn to the local economy.

The project will also play a significant part in the airport’s Net Zero Carbon Roadmap, with the installation of new efficient heating, lighting and machinery, as well as attracting airlines to deploy their newest, quietest and most efficient aircraft at the airport.

Vincent Hodder, CEO of LBA, says: “This project represents the culmination of thousands of hours of planning, consultation and design. As one of Yorkshire’s most significant infrastructure projects, we and our passengers are immensely excited to see it develop in the coming months. Once complete, this project will deliver the airport that our passengers, airlines and region need and deserve.”

Working in and around a live and functioning airport, all of the steelwork had to be delivered and erected in a carefully sequenced operation.

Using a selection mobile cranes, Elland Steel Structures installed the project’s steelwork and the metal decked flooring in a five-phase programme.

During the entire programme, the crane’s lifting operations had to be restricted to within the site’s footprint in order to avoid oversailing the airport’s ‘live’ operational areas

The initial phase involved erecting one half of the new terminal extension closest to the existing buildings.

Working eastwards, phase two saw the remainder of the terminal completed, phase three consisted of the departure gate wing and phase four was the installation of a passenger bridge to the airport’s remote gates. The final fifth phase was the erection of a small quantity of steelwork for a goods yard link corridor.