The New Terminal 4 Project at Melbourne Airport is to house Jetstar, Tiger, and REX in an expansion of Melbourne Airport domestic facilities. It is the first airport in the Asia Pacific region to open as complete self service check in operation.

These works were critical to the expansion of the Melbourne Airport as it is the second biggest airport in Australia with over 32 million people visiting the facility every year. This was one of the first stages in the Re-development at Melbourne Airport.

Scope of works

• 22kV HV Essential and Non-Essential ring supplying the new terminal and Pier G connecting back into the Airports New Tri-gen facility.
• Installation of HV switchgear, transformers and Kiosk substations
• 2 new main switch rooms complete with essential and Non-Essential Main switchboards.
• LV reticulation including metering and switchboard installation for tenancies
• 40kW Solar system
• UPS systems to all communication rooms complete with dual supplies.
• Communication system including fibre optic and structured cabling.
• Emergency lighting system to connect into the existing facility
• Lighting control system
• Lightning protection system
• Thunder Storm Warning system
• General light and Power

Project obstacles to be overcome

There were many project obstacles to overcome at the airport as it is a very secure site that has a lot of procedures and policies. These procedures and policies need to be followed to keep the airport operational at all times. One of the obstacles that we needed to overcome was interfacing the new terminal to tie in the building to the existing facility. This proved difficult as the airport is a 24 hour facility and thorough planning and consultation was required to achieve the desired outcome with minimal interruption to all stakeholders.

Another obstacle included working Airside to complete a section of the project where we had to be extremely careful working around aircraft operations that could not be disrupted. This also proved difficult for deliveries and storage of materials etc.

Added value accrued to customer because of Nilsen involvement

Nilsen worked closely with Melbourne Airport so the desired installation could be achieved for the project. During construction there were other major projects that Nilsen were involved in that needed to be tied into the overall changes at the Airport. This included another HV ring as Nilsen were involved in all these major projects we were able to coordinate and deliver the end result with minimal consultation as it was coordinated internally.

Referees

Dean Anderson
Project Manager

Rodger Hill
ARUP

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