NUEVO PUDAHUEL
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
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WE CHECK BACK IN WITH NUEVO PUDAHUEL TO SEE HOW THEIR AIRPORT EXTENSION HAS PROGRESSED AND HOW THEY ARE OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF RECENT TIMES.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE PROJECT MANAGED BY: GARY SMITH
Nuevo Pudahuel was started in 2015 to take over the concession of the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Chile. When we last spoke to them, in 2017, we learned about their plans to expand and refurbish the airport. Back then Xavier Lotart-Jacob was the technical officer in charge of the extension works on Arturo Merino Benítez (AMB) International Airport. Since then he has risen through the company to become the CEO of the firm.
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uevo Pudahuel, first of all, is a concession company whose shareholders are formed by French companies Aéroports de Paris, Vinci Airports and Italian infrastructure company Astaldi each of them adding respectively 45%, 40% and 15%,” he tells us. “If you just focus on Aéroports de Paris and the Vinci Airports they operate 70 airports around the world including Gatwick and Charles de Gaulle, across all these
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airports that represent 500 million passengers. These are two very industrial shareholders with a lot of expertise. It’s good for us because they bring us all the expertise they have and of course, they provide the financing for the project. “The investment from the shareholders is very significant, about $1 billion for the new airport, of which 50 per cent is financed directly by the shareholders.”
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Escalators
Travelators
thyssenkrupp Elevadores Latin America thyssenkrupp Elevadores Latin America is one of the largest manufacturers of lifting technologies. It is structured to serve the market from subsidiaries in 14 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay) and representatives in other places, like in the Caribbean. The manufacturing park installed in the Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, serves the Latin American market, in addition to local demand. The structure also includes the provision of maintenance services for elevators, escalators and travelators, using specialized technical equipment. thyssenkrupp Santiago: Avenida Del Condor 820, Huechuraba, Santiago - Chile Tel: (+56) 02 27142878 / (+56) 02 898 7300 www.thyssenkruppelevadores.cl
Cranes from Liebherr • Top capacities in all lifting classes • Long booms and jibs with variable working equipment • Cost-effective transport • Comprehensive comfort and safety features • High mobility and short assembly times Liebherr Chile SpA Phone Office: +56 2 2571 0300 E-mail: info.lmc@liebherr.com www.liebherr.com
LIEBHERR LIEBHERR AT THE AIRPORT EXPANSION IN SANTIAGO DE CHILE The airport expansion project was realized with 23 tower cranes and more than 15 mobile cranes from Liebherr. Liebherr Chile S.p.A has erected 18 different types of high- and flat top tower cranes between 8 and 16 tons, with additional six tower cranes from the Chilean dealer Maquinarias Cruz del Sur. Four different Chilean crane rental companies operated the mobile cranes on the expansion project. Together with the Chilean partners, Liebherr provided the necessary services, assemblies and the crane operators. The tower cranes had a jib length of 45 to 60 m and hook heights of 17 to 45 m. The mobile cranes were in the range of 55t to 450t lifting capacity with a maximum boom length of 85m (LTM 1450-8.1). The right choice of crane types, the positioning and the dimensions were all key factors in project planning. Especially at an airport, where the permitted crane heights and working spaces are very limited, Liebherr cranes can be used versatile due to the high innovation in the product lines. Liebherr mounted a Flat-Top 250 EC-B 12 Litronic crane for example on rails to cover a larger part of the construction site and, when it is not in operation, it can be moved to a position where it can slew freely. New innovations like Liebherr’s VarioBase and VarioBallast in the mobile cranes allow to adapt the crane to tighter working spaces or increase lifting capacity just as needed in every single load case.
Vanderlande congratulates AMB International Airport Terminal 2 on its new state-of-the-art baggage handling system.
www.liebherr.com
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C Pier exterior façade at Nuevo Pudahuel. It consists of thermopanels and fiber cement.
However, Lotart-Jacob is keen to point out that Nuevo Pudahuel is so much more than its shareholders, the company’s heart and soul are in Chile. “We’re a local company. It’s a company working with about 200 people working day and night, 24/7 to provide the best service we can to the community, the air traffic community, the airlines, handlers, cargo operators and at the end to the benefit of the passenger,” he tells us. “Our vision is we want to make Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport into a reference airport
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“PEOPLE IN OUR WORKFORCE LIVE HERE, SO AS AN ACTOR IN THE TERRITORY, WE ARE HELPING THE CITY TO GET THROUGH THIS CRISIS THROUGH SOCIAL ACTION.”
for South America, in respect to its traffic, the passenger experience and also in respect to the environment and sustainability. The last point I want to underline is we are the partner of the territory. We are local partners, we live here, in the city of Pudahuel.” That sense of local pride has become more important than ever in the time of Covid-19. “People in our workforce live here, so as an actor in the territory, we are helping the city to get through this crisis through social action,” LotartJacob says.
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AN EXEMPLAR AIRPORT
AMB International Airport is looking to set a new benchmark for airports in the region, but achieving that is no small task, especially for plans with such ambition. As an engineer, Lotart-Jacob has a precise understanding of the scale of the task ahead Nuevo Pudahuel. “The architecture of this building is complex. It’s a very nice architecture but complex,” he explains. “It’s huge- the size of the works we’re carrying out is huge so that means we
C Pier Departure Lounge interior at Nuevo Pudahuel
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have a lot of resources to bring on the site, including human resources, sub-contractors, and materials. When you screw up the consequences are big. So that brings several levels of complexity to the project from an engineer’s perspective.” As well as being an epic project in its own right, the nature of the expansion also makes it hard to respond quickly to evolving situations. “One key point of the project is that it is a brownfield project – as opposed to a greenfield one – which means that we are building a new structure in a middle of a zone where we are currently operating a saturated existing terminal,” Lotard-Jacob explains. “We had to relocate many actors to make zones for construction accessible and focused all our efforts on minimising impacts to other stakeholders and passengers.” Of course we had an obligation of continuity of service, which made it difficult as far as phasing was concerned
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but I would say it’s been a very exciting challenge and we are through it now because we are at 80% of progress. It’s just a matter of production.”
GREEN WINGS
A big part of the expansion and transformation of AMB International Airport is a concerted effort to create a greener, more sustainable travel hub. “We’re investing in electricity, energy saving, waste treatment, water distribution. As an example we have changed all the lights in the existing terminal to bring them up to environmental standards,” Lotart-Jacob says. “We invested in solar panels on the roof of the existing terminal. We have waste management in the existing terminal and we’re committed to reducing our carbon emissions to 50% of what they are today to.” Lotart-Jacob frames these efforts are part of a reassessment of how the airport sector as a whole need
Santiago Airport will soon benefit from 2,500 photovoltaic panels with a total power of 825 kW.
“WE INVESTED IN SOLAR PANELS ON THE ROOF OF THE EXISTING TERMINAL. WE HAVE WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE EXISTING TERMINAL AND WE’RE COMMITTED TO REDUCING OUR CARBON EMISSIONS TO 50% OF WHAT THEY ARE TODAY TO.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM
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to address environmental challenges in the current climate. “I think there is an interesting point where our industry is facing a major crisis, especially in Europe where we are seeing the states bringing into the industry some financial help on the condition they engage with environmental challenges,” he says. “The French state is bringing 7 billion euros to Air France and Air France is now committed to reducing its carbon emissions for the renovation of the aeroplanes by redirecting their investment to green planes. I think that’s important in this crisis, the public sphere will help new investment in sustainability. I hope this will happen also in Chile. It doesn’t change our vision or that we want to go on with our sustainability plans.” Of course, recently Nuevo Pudahuel has faced new challenges. “During the past months from March, we have had to pause all
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Terminal 2 under construction at Nuevo Pudehuel.
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“WE HAVE TAKEN MEASURES WITHOUT DELAY TO ORGANISE THE COMPLETION OF THE WORKS WHILE TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE NEW SANITARY REQUIREMENTS. AS AN EXAMPLE, WE ORGANISED THE WORK CREWS SO THAT INSTEAD OF ONE SHIFT WE HAVE THREE SHIFTS.” these types of projects because we’re in a crisis,” Lotart-Jacob acknowledges. The Covid-19 crisis has seen Nuevo Pudahuel massively change it’s working practices. “We have taken measures without delay to organise the completion of the works while taking into account the new sanitary requirements,” Lotart-Jacob emphasises. “As an example, we organised the work crews so that instead of one shift we have three shifts.” This will not change the project’s quality, or sustainability targets, however. “We have no change in our vision, so when things return to normal, we will focus on the development of our business,” Lotart-Jacob says firmly. “It’s not easy but all the main construction risks are behind us. We will enjoy a modern airport in 2021 and will work hard to sustain the necessary growth of the traffic.”
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