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| Dublin Airport’s new T2 will have 9,000sq m of retail space and promises to be “an elegant gateway for 21st century Ireland” |
IRELAND. The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has revealed plans for its new €395 million terminal at Dublin Airport, which will be capable of handling up to 15 million passengers a year.
Construction of T2 is due to begin in the second quarter of next year and it will open in the autumn of 2009, raising capacity at the airport to a potential 35 million passengers a year. The plans provide for 9,000sq m of retail space. Speaking to The Moodie Report about the project earlier this year, Aer Rianta Retail Director-Retail Frank O’Connell said commercial would “have its say right from the start” of the planning for T2.
“T2 will provide an elegant and contemporary gateway for 21st century Ireland,” said DAA Chairman Gary McGann. “It provides a cost effective solution to Dublin Airport’s current capacity deficit that meets the government’s requirement for delivery by 2009, and it represents a further significant milestone for the DAA in its commitment to deliver on its key shareholder and customer objectives.”
DAA said today: “T2 will be a bright, modern building designed specifically to meet travellers’ needs. It will feature large airy spaces in areas such as check-in, baggage reclaim, security and the Departures lounge. The 75,000sq m terminal will also have dedicated facilities to meet the needs of business travellers and families travelling with young children. The public areas will create a calm and relaxing environment for arriving and departing passengers alike.”
The planning application for T2 will be lodged this week with local authorities together with a planning application for a new pier building (Pier E), an improved internal road network, a major utilities upgrade and a range of other associated works. The total cost, at current prices, of the terminal and the other new infrastructure for which planning permission is being sought is just over €600 million.
Locations for a future Metro station and a ground transportation centre are also provided for in the development plan.
T2 is a three-storey, curvilinear building that sits astride the main access road to T1. The building has two main components – a check-in area and a Departures and Arrivals area – connected by a link that forms part of the central spine of the new building. The way in which T2 sits astride the road means that all arriving traffic for the existing passenger terminal will pass under this link on its way to T1.
In the new check-in area passengers will find almost 60 traditional check-in desks plus self-service kiosks and self-serve bag drop positions. Having passed through a centralised security area they will enter a large Departures lounge with retail and catering outlets providing views over the airfield. Passengers will then continue onto the boarding gates in the new Pier E to board their aircraft.
The new facilities allow arriving passengers move from gate to landside through the centre of the terminal without a change in levels. Another feature of T2’s design is that all passengers will pass through the heart of the building whether they are departing or arriving.
Aer Lingus is expected to be the primary user of T2 and the new terminal will also be home to other transatlantic and intercontinental carriers. The new 24,000sq m Pier E facility will have gates for up to 19 short-haul aircraft or up to eight long-haul aircraft.
DAA Chief Executive Declan Collier said that though T2 would not open until 2009, passengers using Dublin Airport would begin to see improvements in facilities from later this year. Work is currently under way on Area 14, a new lower ground floor check-in area in T1 that will open this December. The construction of Pier D, which will open in autumn 2007, is also progressing and it will create a new Departures area with 14 new gates for fast-turnaround short-haul aircraft.
“We are acting to deliver new capacity at Dublin Airport to meet the needs of the travelling public and our airline partners,” he added. “In recent years the facilities at Dublin have not kept pace with the huge growth in passenger numbers. But with the advent of T2, Pier E and our plan to upgrade the entire airport campus, we will deliver a high-quality, cost-effective, contemporary gateway for Irish air travellers and visitors to this country alike. In this context we welcome the fact that the cost-effective basis of the plans we announce today will be affirmed by the independent cost verification consultants appointed by the government.”
He added that the plans for T2 and Pier E are key elements of a major Airport Development Programme at Dublin Airport that also includes a new parallel runway, an extension to the existing T1 facility and a range of other upgrades and improvements due to be delivered over the next ten years.
T2 has been designed by a project team comprising Arup, Pascall + Watson and Mace. The consortium was appointed as project manager and designer for T2, Pier E and all associated integration works earlier this year. The firms have previously worked on other major airport projects such as London Heathrow T5, Beijing’s new T3, Hong Kong International Airport and Seeb International Airport in Oman.
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