Runway rubble to be used for aircraft parks

Auckland International Airport is digging up its runway to be used as the foundation for a large airfield development.

Rather than sending 108,000 tonnes of concrete that previously formed the airport’s runway touchdown zones to landfill, the material is being crushed up as backfill for 250,000m2 of new airfield, to the west of the international terminal.

Auckland Airport chief infrastructure officer Andre´ Lovatt said it made sense to reuse waste concrete already onsite to create the strong, stable base needed to take the weight of fully laden aircraft.

‘‘The airfield expansion requires a base of approximately 1.5 metres deep, capable of taking the weight of A380s, which are around 280 tonnes.’’

The concrete had a 60-year life as a runway and renewal work on the runway and taxiways had been under way for several years, he said.

‘‘Over the past few years, we’ve replaced hundreds of concrete slabs, which are 36m2 each. Rather than disposing of this old pavement offsite, we’ve been setting it aside, creating a huge mound of 45,000m3 of concrete to the south of the airfield.

‘‘The old pavement is now being trucked to crushing machines on site for use in the airfield expansion, to be completed between now and mid 2025.’’

The project, which covers 23 rugby fields, is the largest airfield expansion in the airport’s history, and is part of a $3.9 billion development programme that includes a new domestic jet terminal that will be integrated with the current international terminal.

The redevelopment is expected to take five to six years to complete.

‘‘We need to create a new area for aircraft parking, with a large part of the airfield about to become a construction site for development of the newly integrated terminal.

‘‘This requires more than 80,000m2 space for its apron and airfield operations, meaning the current space where aircraft park-up temporarily will be impacted.’’