What do you do when one of the busiest places in the country needs a bright and inviting welcome space?
Well, you call DGE of course!
Especially when it involves preventing disruption to thousands of people entering New Zealand on a daily basis, and the staff that service them at the Auckland International Airport.
It was a tall order, but of course DGE were up for the challenge.
The Challenge:
To provide the Auckland International Airport with a new bright and open space to welcome arriving international passengers.
To create a new baggage handling area in possibly New Zealand’s busiest business was challenge enough. But the area also needed to remain operational the whole time without any disruption to passengers or staff.
The Scope:
To transform an Air Handling and Electrical Plantroom into a new Arrivals Baggage Carousel, baggage servicing offices, an MPI screening area, MPI dog handling area and two seperate Duty-Free kiosk spaces.
Partnering with Hawkins Construction for the project, DGE was tasked with completing all of the electrical work for this extensive project. The baggage area they were working on would be the first that passengers saw when they arrived in the country. So, it not only had to function well, but look great too.
The Solution:
A multi-stage plan to be executed like clockwork to ensure no disruption occurred and the project kept to a strict schedule.
The first stage of the project was for DGE to relocate the existing Electrical Switchroom. Keep in mind, this had to be done while the existing tenants and operations kept running in a fully functioning International Airport.
To execute this, DGE surveyed the existing switchboards and procured identical replacement boards. These were then installed in the newly relocated switchroom and livened. To complete the migration, DGE planned and executed multiple after-hours shutdown periods between 1am and 4am to ensure no disruption to the Airport occurred.
Demolition of the old Plantroom and construction of the new carousel was the next step of the project. The build had to be done in stages to minimise the disruption to passengers. It was carried out around active areas, with passengers funneling through a temporary corridor to allow the first stage of the build to take place.
Stage 1 of the project saw a completed portion of the new carousel area open, allowing passengers to use the space. However, stage 2 was still to be finalised. And as the sub-mains and electrical circuits ran across both areas, the installation was only partially completed in stage 1 – enough to get it operating safely. Many circuits were safely livened in stage 1 with a plan to extend them in stage 2 of the build.
Once the second stage was completed, livening and commissioning of all the electrics had to take place. In able to do that, DGE needed to extend the stage 1 supplies. To ensure the whole area was not without power, one stage 1 circuit was isolated and connected at a time. This minimised the disruption and allowed the project to be completed in a timely manner.
The Outcome:
A bright new open space to welcome the international passengers arriving to New Zealand.
The client was so pleased with how smoothly the project went. It was completed to specification and on time. The space ended up being above and beyond the client’s expectations.
Another job well done!
DGE is one of Auckland’s most highly regarded electrical engineering firms. Their skill and reputation is the main reason they were selected for the all important job of powering the new arrivals area at the Auckland International Airport.
Don’t hesitate to contact us here at DGE, a team you can trust to get the job done!
