London Stansted has confirmed Farrans as its partner for construction of the airport’s new skylink walkways.
The skylinks are part of the airport’s transformation program, connecting the terminal to existing satellite buildings that house the departure and arrival gates.
The addition of the skylinks will allow Stansted’s Track Transit people mover system to be decommissioned, creating space for the terminal building to be extended toward the airfield in later phases of the transformation work.
The centerpiece of the program is a three-bay extension to the existing terminal, adding 16,500m2 of space with new shops, bars, and restaurants – which the airport says will make Stansted the largest single-terminal airport in Europe.
The skylinks will feature passenger travelators and allow assistance buggies to transport passengers with reduced mobility along the full journey between the terminal and the arrival and departure gates.
Work will begin later this summer, with pre-assembly of skylink sections taking place off-site in a vacant airport hangar on the north side of the airfield. Once completed, each section will be transported overnight across the airfield on self-propelled modular transporters to minimize disruption to airport operations.
“We’re delighted to continue our strong and successful partnership with Farrans at London Stansted, having successfully worked with the team through the design, planning and enabling phases of the skylinks project, a vital component in our overall transformation program,” said Rob Stewart, London Stansted’s capital delivery program director. “We now move to the construction phase of the work, where Farrans’ expertise and experience of delivering airport projects in busy operational environments will be invaluable.”
Stewart added that the airport continues to see record passenger numbers, and that the transformation program will deliver new passenger facilities, support growth and unlock capacity on the airport’s existing single runway.
“Passengers arriving at London Stansted will already be able to see that we are mobilizing our site in preparation for main works to begin during this exciting period of transformation for the airport,” said Glenn Gilmore, regional director at Farrans. “Construction in aviation environments comes with many unique challenges, including making sure that our clients’ business operations can continue 24/7 with minimal disruption every day. We are specialists in managing these tricky interfaces with our extensive experience on-site at numerous other UK airports.”
In related news, Gatwick’s Northern Runway project to continue after Court of Appeal rejects legal challenge
