Temporary Airport Terminal

The Assignment
Although the smaller of the German capital’s two airports, Flughafen Berlin Schönefeld serves around 13 million passengers annually and urgently required additional capacity to cope with the growing number of visitors travelling to and from the city each year.
To meet the increased demand major renovations are required to the airport’s infrastructure. However, while the building work is underway the airport operators needed a temporary solution to accommodate passengers.
They appointed Neptunus to come up with the answer as the company has vast experience in building temporary terminals at international airports including Schiphol in The Netherlands, Malta International Airport and Magdeberg-Cochstedt Airport in Germany.

The Solution
Neptunus’ technicians took just three weeks to erect the temporary terminal building utilising two of the company’s state-of-the-art temporary structures – an Evolution III, providing over 2,200 square metres of space, linked to an 189-square metre Flexolution II. Both the Evolution III and the Flexolution II were built on the existing tarmac using a cassette floor system with integrated concrete floor elements for anchoring. With the cassette floor systems, the flexible and spacious Neptunus buildings provide ideal solutions for short or long term rentals.

The complex internal fit out was then completed in just three months – providing the airport with a fully operational terminal building which opened in December. It can accommodate up to 1,200 passengers in a departure-side waiting room equipped with a restaurant, children’s play area and toilets. There are five departure gates, each with two pre-boarding counters, along with pre-boarding zones at each gate for 120 passengers.
The building meets all the latest health and safety requirements and incorporates a total of eight emergency escape routes.
Neptunus was responsible for managing the entire project. This included the installation of electricity, lighting, heating, air conditioning, toilet facilities and anti-slip floors plus air and ventilation systems. In collaboration with Siemens, an advanced fire alarm system was also been installed.
The facility will be in place for 18 months with an option for an additional six months.

The Challenge
Working within a busy international airport on an airside building project throws up lots of challenges and requires strict security measures, special permits and vetting of all personnel working on the site.
Erecting a building a long side an operational airstrip meant all materials and supplies could only be safely delivered at night. However, these are the sort of issues you expect when working in a high-security environment and the team at Neptunus has the knowledge and vast experience to overcome these challenges – delivering high quality temporary buildings on time and cost-effectively.
Due to the terrain and the requirement to be linked to the aircraft platform that is connected to the usual gates, the structures were unable to be anchored to the ground. Neptunus’ design team solved the problem by anchoring with concrete in the floors with the entire building elevated above ground. Pipes and drainage beneath the building are heated so they can function in the winter.

The Verdict
Mr. Joachim Korkhaus, Project Manager BER-flughafen, commended the skill of the Neptunus team who coordinated the project and said the airport were “very satisfied” with the execution of the scheme and the end result.