Lagan Aviation has completed a runway resurfacing programme at the Royal Air Force Base (RAF) Gibraltar.
Valued at £8million, the project was carried out on behalf of the UK Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO). The four month contract involved the replacement of some 15,000 tonnes of asphalt and 200 airfield lights. Work was completed during night time shifts to ensure the base remained operational throughout.
To complete the resurfacing work, plant and equipment owned by Lagan Construction International was shipped in from the UK along with aggregates from the UK. Works included the slurry sealing of 200,000m2 of the runway strip. Installation of a new pit and duct system was carried out including 3 runway crossings. Temporary airfield ground lighting was installed to facilitate the delivery of the works.
“Investing in infrastructure to enable military capability is a huge part of what DIO delivers for defence so I’m really pleased with how quickly and smoothly this project has progressed. This was only possible because of how closely DIO, Lagan Construction International, RAF Gibraltar and the government of Gibraltar worked together to mitigate any possible problems.”DIO Programme and Projects Delivery International deputy head David Graham
“74,000 man hours were dedicated to resurfacing the runway, all done without a single reported accident. And get this, a MoD project that was delivered two weeks early and to budget. I never thought I’d hear myself say that so I will say it again, it was delivered two weeks early and to budget.”British Forces Gibraltar commander commodore Ian McGhie
Steve Turner, Director International Operations at Lagan Aviation“The entire team have been working together to overcome significant challenges such as logistics of plant and material from UK to Gibraltar to deliver a high quality project”. Everyone at Lagan Construction International is extremely proud of what has been achieved on this challenging project.”
Currently, the air force base at Gibraltar handles both military and civilian flights on its 6,000ft-long runway. The project will enable flights to continue in and out of RAF Gibraltar for the next 20 years.