Pier 1, London Gatwick Airport

Hughes and Salvidge completed the demolition of Gatwick airport’s South Terminal Pier 1 as part of a £183.9 million redevelopment project.

The works for this London transport hub involved the demolition of an aircraft pier which contained twelve link bridges and accompanying aircraft stands. Alongside the challenges of working in a live Airport environment, the significant hurdle presented on this project involved the separation of the pier from the live terminal building. This involved the erection of a scaffold protection deck beneath the concrete floor and utilised specialist saw cutting techniques. This section of the works took place over a series of nights to complete the separation and ensure no disruption to Airport operations. During the daytime, our teams were working adjacent to moving aircrafts and thousands of daily passengers.

The pier, which was more than 50 years old, was replaced by a two-storey facility, which opened in summer 2015.

The new terminal building includes a baggage system allowing passengers to use automated fast-bag drops, and gate rooms for passengers, linked to five new aircraft stands by air bridges.

Stewart Wingate, chief executive at London Gatwick, said: “Pier 1 [was] in service since 1962, so the commencement of demolition works [was] a significant milestone in Gatwick’s ongoing transformation.”

The redevelopment followed a series of upgrades at Gatwick, including the extension of the airport’s North Terminal and security area at the South Terminal.