London Luton Airport £9.4m Foxtrot taxiway and de-icing facility

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The new taxiway is 520m long, and required 6,000m3 of concrete and 110,000 hours to complete. 9km of electric cables connect the 150 LED lights on the new taxiway.

Taxiway Foxtrot also includes one of the largest remote de-icing facilities in Europe.  The facility can de-ice up to seven planes at once and incorporates 600m of drainage to ensure that all de-icing liquid is captured and disposed of safely. This will help the airport to maintain on-time departures during exceptionally cold weather. 

4,000m3 of earth was re-used during the construction phase and the taxiway has been designed to capture de-icing fluids for recycling.

Neil Thompson, Operations Director at LLA said: “This new taxiway will enable us to efficiently manage the ever-increasing number of aircraft that use the airport. The de-icing facility will also help us to and our airline partners to deliver punctual departures year round, whatever the weather.” 

The project was recognised by both RoSPA and Green Apple.

Project Works and Key Quantities

  • Establishment of site boundary to land side site Excavation and remediation of historic landfill

  • 6,500m2 Dynamic compaction and stabilization

  • 20,000m3 Bulk excavation

  • 15,000m3 New drainage system, including 1,750m3 attenuation tank New AGL pit and duct system Supply and installation of new jet blast fence

  • 180m Supply and installation of new high mast lights including foundations

  • 5No Type 1 – 11,000m3 Supply and lay lean mix concrete

  • 3,000m3 Supply and lay PQ concrete

  • 5,450m3 Reinforced PAV 2 Concrete

  • 2,450m3 Pavement design and tie into existing taxiways – 3 locations – 3 bell mouths within restricted working hours and operational restrictions Installation of new AGL’s

  • Man Hours Worked – 97,600hrs

  • Incidents – 0 Cable Strikes – 0

Completed on time and under budget.