Airport construction

In many respects, the new construction of the commercial airport of Kassel-Calden is a record-breaking construction project: Within a construction period of a bit more than two years, a modern landing place for air traffic, with a 2500-metre long takeoff and landing runway, was created on this 220-hectare area which was formerly used as agricultural land. At the beginning of the construction work, it was the largest earthwork site of Europe: More than 5 million cubic metres of soil needed to be moved in order to compensate for a height difference of 26 metres. 

After completion of these extensive earthworks, intensive work was carried out to construct the aircraft movement areas, taxiways and, of course, the takeoff and landing runways. The concrete construction method was used for the construction of aprons and parking areas. Bickhardt Bau employed its large slipform paver for this purpose. With the company's rolling road construction plant, the concrete construction specialists covered a surface area of altogether 100,000 square metres in a period of three months. This corresponds to an approximate size of 14 soccer fields. The concrete package is 36 centimetres thick. It was strengthened and reinforced by means of 72,000 dowel pins and 20,000 anchors. It was necessary to cut 38 kilometres of joints in order to provide the concrete with enough space for expansion. The construction work carried out in the field of asphalt construction is equally impressive. Using the so-called hot-to-hot paving method, the Bickhardt Bau blacktop specialists, along with their pavers, applied the covering layer onto the 2500-metre long and 45-metre wide takeoff and landing runway. The total surface area paved with asphalt which also includes taxiways and the parallel runway is 210,000 square metres in size.

Three mobile mixing plants installed on the construction site ensured the constant supply of asphalt, concrete and material for the hydraulically bound base layer. Specialists in the field of underground engineering installed 38,500 metres of drainpipes with diameters between 16 cm and 1.40 metres for the drainage of the paved areas. They also installed 180 kilometres of cable protection tubes for the technical equipment of the airport. Every single navigation light, no matter how far away it is from the tower, has to be connected to the electric power supply. Bickhardt Bau also played a key role in the completion of the other airport buildings.

Earthworks:

5.3 million m³ of soil movement (here you can find further information about earthworks)

Aircraft movement areas:

200,000 m² of surface area constructed using the method of asphalt construction
100,000 m² of surface area constructed using the method of concrete construction (here you can find further information about concrete road construction)

Drainage:

21 km of collecting ducts DN 300 to DN 1400
20 km of drainage pipes DN 100 to DN 200
10 km of drainage channels
700 m of sewer with storage capacity and overflow DN 1600 and DN 1800
4,000 m of sanitary sewer DN 150 – DN 250
3 rainwater storage reservoirs

Structural engineering:

5 buildings: terminal, fire station, multi-purpose building
General aviation, tower with adjoining building
Gross floor space (overall) : 14,000 m²
Concrete: 7950 m³
Reinforcement steel: 1025 t

By order of Fraport, Bickhardt Bau AG implements, in a consortium, the new construction of the taxiways W, W7, W9, R (partial), R17, S26, S24 and S23 for aircrafts with high live loads, in the south-western area of the airport ground. The total area of the new construction project, including conversion areas, is approximately 247,000 square metres. There are some existing taxiways which need to be renovated or modified. This building project includes underground engineering work for the construction of the paved areas, together with drainage and routes of the ductwork for cables.
Additionally, the employees of Bickhardt Bau AG renovate the existing taxiways R and S, together with the corresponding connections to the apron for aircrafts with high live loads. The surface area of the renovation measure amounts to 138,700 square metres.

The work tasks to be carried out are detailed in the text that follows: Demolition and removal of existing paved surfaces, building constructions and installations, earthworks, drainage channel construction, routes of the ductwork for cables with accessible manholes, aircraft movement areas with superstructures constructed using the concrete or asphalt method of construction, foundations for traffic signs and other signboards, marking work, gas and water pipes.

Earthworks:

 Removal of 76,200 m³ of topsoil
110,000 m³ of soil movement, application and removal

Superstructure:

179,000 m² of asphalt pavements, up to 40 cm thick
25,500 m² of concrete pavements, 38 cm thick

Drainage:

7,430 m of reinforced concrete pipes DN 300 – DN 1800
1,294 m of reinforced concrete jacking pipes DN 300 – DN 1800 in underground pipe jacking
143      manholes made of prefabricated elements DN 1000 to DN 1500
9,254 m of drainage channels (designed to withstand the weight of wheeled vehicles)

Miscellaneous:

52,400 m² of demolition and removal work, regarding aircraft movement areas with installations
103 km of routes of cable protection tubes with accessible manholes

By order of the company for construction and real estate of the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Bickhardt Bau, in a consortium, performed the repair and overhaul of the aircraft movement areas of the Rostock-Laage air base. Within the scope of this project, the department for concrete road construction constructed 15,000 square metres of paved concrete surfaces. Two 300-metre long taxiways running parallel to the takeoff and landing runways were constructed. These runways ensure that the Eurofighter military aircrafts stationed there can much better taxi from the hangar to their starting positions now.
 

This airport which is located 28 kilometres to the south of Rostock is the only military airfield which is shared with a civil airport company. Apart from the two concrete taxiways which run parallel to the landing runway, Bickhardt Bau was also entrusted with the construction of a connection to the landing runway. It was necessary to construct this area during a period without air traffic in order to be able to comply with the special safety conditions – in particular with the safety distances to the air traffic. The concrete pavement was installed with a material thickness of 24 centimetres in each case.

The construction of a so-called run-up area which is 1200 square metres in size belongs to the category of special structures. This is a concrete surface, 30 by 40 metres in size, on which anchoring devices are embedded so that the jet engines can also be tested on the ground.

Superstructure:

Demolition and removal of 32,000 m² of concrete surface (including substructure)
13,500 m² of taxiways constructed using the method of concrete construction (including substructure)
1,432 m² of asphalt road

Drainage:

1,075 m of slit gutter made of concrete R300/F900
500 m of sewer, PE, diameter DN 200
200 m of sewer, PE, diameter DN 100
190 m of sewer, reinforced concrete, diameter DN 300-1500
560 m of cable protection tubes

Miscellaneous:

1 outside run-up area (1200m² of concrete)