Cairns Airport called on Team Boral to deliver a complete upgrade to one of its major taxiways, parking bays and general aviation apron.
Covering almost 60,000m2, the project included the supply of 7212 tonnes of airport specification asphalt, HaTelit® XP reinforcement layers in high-stress areas and just over 205,000 litres of bitumen, with new lighting and marking across the upgraded areas. All done in a way that allowed the airport to return to business as usual each day.
“The Boral team prides itself on our customer service. This award from Cairns Airport is great recognition for the work everyone has done.”
Paul Horn, Asphalt Operations Manager, Qld North.
Team Boral assemble
The team knew we needed to draw on our integrated operations to deliver successfully. Our Redlynch and Tichum Creek quarries provided the aggregate, our Holloways Beach plant provided the concrete, and while the local Cairns Asphalt team manufactured and placed the asphalt, multiple other Asphalt crew resources across Queensland provided support.
Like any superhero’s tale, the Cairns Airport upgrade was no different with the challenges of different pavement profiles and existing conditions, the removal of existing pavers not normally used in taxiway settings and a good dose of wild North Queensland weather thrown in. All while ensuring the Airport could maintain operations during the construction with limited disruption to the airlines and their passengers.
Partners in time
Initially, the brief was to have the works run as a solely nightshift operation with the requirement of returning the full taxiway C back to service at the end of each shift with a maximum of only one aircraft parking bay closed at any given time. Simple, right?
The Boral team quickly identified the risks this would add to the works from both a quality and operational perspective.
Together with Cairns Airport, contractors Jacobs and SEMPAC, Boral drove the modification to the project staging and methodology to reduce risk and improve productivity, allowing the work to be done safely, to a high quality and well ahead of schedule.