July 23, 2010

MMM GROUP

A storm trunk main being installed at Calgary’s airport.

$45-million expansion of Calgary airport takes flight

DAN O’REILLY

correspondent

While not quite the beehive of activity it was last fall, the site servicing work to accommodate a major expansion of the Calgary Airport is still intensive. The MMM Group Ltd. is the project manager and consulting engineer overseeing the planning, design and implementation of the approximately $45-million project.

Started in October 2008, this preliminary phase is required to facilitate the redevelopment of 290 acres of raw land in the northwest corner of airport, says MMM land development manager Peter Hibbert.

The lands will be integrated into the existing Deerfoot North Aviation Park and used for the construction of a number of ancillary airport buildings such as commercial distribution centres and possibly a hotel, he says.

“We should see some development by the spring of 2011 with a possible build out by 2013.”

Some of the key components of the complicated and carefully synchronized venture include the relocation of a 400-mm high pressure gas main and a 15KV underground power main; the construction of a bio-retention storm facility, the installation of water, sewer, communications, power and gas lines; and the building of a new internal road and pedestrian network system.

Lafarge Construction Materials is the general contractor overseeing the installation of the deep utilities, plus the road and pedestrian network. It’s also responsible for landscaping and ongoing maintenance to minimize erosion and dust around the development.

There were lots of discussions to get the project off the ground, he says.

As just one example, he cites the co-ordination with ATCO Gas Pipeline to move the high pressure gas main from the centre of the site to the west and north boundary to eliminate future conflicts with other utilities and buildings. Another example is the design, development and placement of the underground power main in partnership with energy distributor Enmax Power and its consultant, Primary Engineering.

One of the most significant undertakings was the relocation and grading of more than 1.5 million cubic metres of earth for the utility installation and the planned roadways and buildings.

The work was performed by Kidco Construction and Contour Earthmoving.

Earthworks construction was required on both ground side and air side of the airport and required careful planning with the Calgary Airport Authority and NavCanada to eliminate any disturbance to planes landing and/or taking off.

Similarly, the installation of a large sewer by Blue Con Excavating from the site of the future Apron Nine Hangar at the south side site of the site through to the “threshold area’ of the existing Runway 10 to connect with the new internal road system also required some tight logistics.

“We only had a short of window of approximately three weeks to install it.”

Another key project player was WRD Borger Construction, the underground contractor responsible for the installation of a 400-metre-long, 1,500-mm diameter sewer main. In August it will be connected with existing city utilities underneath Airport Trail, one of the main roads leading to the airport. Alternate detours will have to be created while that work is underway, says Hibbert.

Sometime this fall the installation of the “shallow” utility lines such as natural gas and cable will begin and by the end of the year all of the roads will be in place, marking the substantial completion of site servicing, he says.

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