JERSEY AIRPORT
NEW AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL CENTRE (POSITION N 0 8)
Design Statement
1: Introduction
On 11th November 2003 drawings were approved for a four storey building and control tower on the site of aircraft stand No 11. This building incorporated the air traffic control, operations and administrative functions. At the time this was considered to be the most practical location in terms of the visibility achievable from the visual control room (VCR). There are a number of factors which have an impact on the positioning of the VCR, the most onerous of which is the 1 in 7 slope. This controls the height of any building or obstruction within an angle set at a distance of 150 metres from the centre line of the runway then rising from this point at a slope of 1 in 7.
Although detailed drawings were subsequently approved for Building Bye-Laws on 23rd February 2004, the Airport Authorities decided against building the new facilities on Stand 11 due to the loss of a valuable aircraft stand. Various other locations were reviewed and after due consideration it was decided to reduce the accommodation provided and sacrifice Stand 14 which was used by smaller aircraft. As the scale of building required had reduced and was in close proximity to the existing Baggage Handling area, the design aesthetic adopted was more `industrial’ in nature. To achieve acceptable visibility, the height of the tower increased and was physically separated from the bulk of the building. Due to the restricted site area available, this building was four storeys high. Planning approval was granted on 28th October 2005 followed by Bye-Law approval on 21st March 2006.
Due in part to budgetary constraints, the wish to maintain Stand 14 for operational reasons and the preference not to have the building and tower in the Restricted Zone (RZ) for security reasons, this position was also abandoned. After another assessment of the locations previously reviewed Position 8 was identified as the most practical. It had been rejected previously as it was in conflict with the Cargo Taxiway and would have incurred enormous costs to have it re-routed. As a considerable number of years had elapsed since the initial location appraisals were undertaken it transpired that the Cargo Taxiway was due for renewal within a few years. The civil engineering contractor who tendered for renewing the south apron will be asked to re-route the Cargo Taxiway prior to the anticipated commencement of the building work associated with the ATC Centre.
Locating the ATC Centre and VCR Tower on Position No 8 has necessitated a further increase in height of the VCR Tower although it will still remain within the 1 in 7 slope referred to above. The brief areas have also been reduced considerably which has allowed a development proposal of only two storeys in height. It is this proposal which is the subject of the “Design Statements” required under Policy G4.
2.0 Detailed Response to Policy G4 – Design Statements
2.1 Principles of the design
As explained in the introduction above, the move from Stand No 14 to position No 8 and the reduction in the brief areas has allowed the development of a two storey structure which is more in scale with the Departures Building. The Air Traffic Control tower is substantially higher, at a height of approximately 39.2 metres above ground level. As this will be a prominent feature it has been decided to separate the tower visually from the ATC Centre by creating a “tenuous” glazed link.
Given the functional nature of the building and its location air side, it has been given an industrial expression in order that it is clearly identified as not being part of the Departures building with its distinctive oversailing roof which floats above the heavy masonry perimeter walls.
Both the Tower and ATC building will be clad in a high specification panel system to create the desired industrial quality and which will also resist the polluting and staining effects of aviation fuel.
2.2 Planning Framework
Whilst there is no Planning Department development brief, the Airport as early as 2000 produced a long-term strategy covered in the “Airport 2020 Masterplan Interim Report No 2”. This document identified the principle elements which had to be approved to meet the standards required by the British Airport Authority. These were:
a) To remove the upper three floors of the 1937 building in order to reduce the intrusion into the safety zone and to remove a significant amount of the asbestos and cladding problems;
b) To construct a new operations building elsewhere on the airfield to house Air Traffic Control and the Department of Electronics;
c) To demolish No 4 Hangar, which is in extremely poor condition and causes an obstruction to the Alpha Taxiway;
d) To make alternative arrangements for the Airport Fire Service and Engineering Department as well as a new commercial hangar;
e) To refurbish rather than re-house the Freight Hangar.
To meet all these objectives in a functioning airport environment requires an enormous amount of planning primarily to establish which elements are on the critical path. The “Airport 2020 Masterplan” Interim Report No 2 identified the Revised Construction Priorities as follows:
i) Create new planting to south side and construct new hangar.
ii) Construct new operations building (excluding Met Office, Airport Directorate and Finance Department) and control tower.
- Construct new Engineering building.
iv) Demolish part existing No 4 Hangar to allow construction of new ARFFS building.
v) Construct new ARFFS building.
vi) Remove asbestos from 1937 building and take off top sections of this building (or demolish 1937 building completely).
vii) Demolish remainder of No 4 Hangar and existing ARFFS building.
viii) Refurbish Freight Building depending on commercial opportunities.
ix) Construct combined “meeters and greeters” and Aurigny area.
From the above list it is clear that the construction of the new Air Traffic Control Centre is necessary to allow all other improvements at the Airport to follow. Before the recently constructed Alpha Taxiway reaches the planned straight line configuration virtually all of the 1937 Building will have to be demolished for safety reasons.
2.3 Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment
As part of the overall masterplan for the development of the Airport site in total there will be a requirement for both soft and hard landscaping work. In recent years there have been substantial improvements to the vehicular and servicing access and parking arrangements for staff and public. There has been a substantial amount of screen planting around the perimeter of the site where this does not interfere with aircraft movement and control.
Focusing on the ATC Centre and tower it is considered the two storey building, although close to the south east corner of the Departures building , will not be visually intrusive as the gently curving roof will be below the level of the over sailing roof of its neighbour.
Whilst the tower, at a height of approximately 39 metres above ground level, will be a prominent feature in the landscape and will be visible from many parts of the Island as are many of the distinctive church spires in the Parishes. It is interesting to note the closest spire on St Peter’s Church is about the same height.
2.4 Open Space
The location of both the ATC building and tower is controlled by the physical requirements associated with sight lines for both the runway and taxiways, safety (1 in 7 slope), economies and the Restricted Zone/Airside/Landside split. The new building and tower will be located to the south of the existing short stay car park partially obscured by the timber slatted security fencing.
From a zoning perspective the position allows the building to be constructed landside by providing temporary fencing around the site. This facilitates the ingress and egress of personnel and vehicles without the burden of the security requirements of an airside facility. After construction is complete the temporary fencing will be removed and the facility will become airside although not in the restricted zone.
2.5 Materials and Energy Conservation
All materials used in the construction of the buildings will be reviewed in the context of their constituent parts, manufacture, life expectancy, cost and aesthetics.
Due to the location the noise generated by aircraft will dictate the need for a high level of acoustic performance from the external fabric. This will also mean few if any opening windows which in turn will require the internal spaces to be temperature controlled ie., heated and cooled. In many of the working areas this approach was inevitable given the high heat generating equipment used.
The external envelope will be designed to give high levels of insulation and low levels of air leakage thus minimising energy consumption.
2.6 Environmental Audit
The site currently forms part of the Cargo Taxiway which is to be re-routed to the south to give the necessary safety clearances for aircraft. At the present time it has been assumed that the area of the existing cargo taxiway which will be under the building footprint will be broken up removed and recycle for use as hardcore. Depending on the timing of this exercise the Civil Engineering contractor, currently working on the south apron, could be requested to carry out this work. This contractor has his own crushing and concrete batching plant on site.
All surface water from the Taxiways and Stands is gathered and piped to the natural filtering reed beds and impounding ponds to the south. Surface water from new buildings, considered not to be contaminated will be taken into new surface water drainage systems and soakaways. This is in keeping with Jersey Airports Clean Surface Water Disposal Policy.
Other sustainable approaches have been considered but due to the absolute need to keep the facilities within the building fully operational reliance could not be placed on alternative sources of power. In fact there is a requirement to provide diverse and uninterrupted power supplies.
R H&A JerseyAirportNewAirTrafficControlCentre 070904 GH-PAF.doc
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