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Additional work at Gatwick awarded to VolkerFitzpatrick

VolkerFitzpatrick has recently been awarded the Gatwick Stream Flood Attenuation Works contract by Gatwick Airport as part of their £1.2 billion programme of investment.

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The new stream Flood Attenuation Works contract, awarded to VolkerFitzpatrick by Gatwick Airport in June 2013, will deliver an online flood storage area for the Gatwick stream tributary, located immediately to the south east of Gatwick Airport. The flood attenuation area will be capable of holding up to 186,000m3 of flood water during periods of heavy rainfall when flows in the Gatwick Stream exceed 15m3/second.

The scheme has been designed to ensure that the airport will be protected from flooding for up to 100 years.

Since September 2011 VolkerFitzpatrick has been working with Gatwick Airport to complete several projects as part of its investment programme, including the rehabilitation of Gatwick's Papa and November Taxiways resurfacing its main runway and the design and installation of a new pumped foul water drainage system.

The runway project was recently Highly Commended in the ICE Southeast Engineering Excellence Awards. 

As the main runway at Gatwick Airport is the world's busiest single runway, with 53 aircrafts landing and taking off every hour, carrying out even the simplest task without disrupting Gatwick's demanding flight schedule is a huge challenge, however VolkerFitzpatrick has been able to complete every project without causing a single delay.

Derek Hendry, construction director at Gatwick Airport commented on VolkerFitzpatrick's success: "As the busiest single runway airport in the world, with a 24 hour operation, these projects have been critical for Gatwick. VolkerFitzpatrick have worked closely with the Gatwick teams throughout the planning, design and construction stages to deliver a solution that met both our technical brief and protected aircraft operations."

"They worked with us to overcome the challenges of the extremely unseasonal weather conditions in 2012, taking a proactive approach to re-engineering the design and re-sequencing the works which enabled us to meet our critical objectives. Safety is paramount at Gatwick, and the team fully embraced our Destination Zero programme, working over 450,000 hours in a challenging environment with no reportable accidents. "

Des Steadman, managing director of civils at VolkerFitzpatrick commented on this project: "We are delighted to be given the opportunity to further strengthen our relationship with Gatwick Airport. VolkerFitzpatrick has the ability to provide a wide range of airport infrastructure works and our experienced project team is looking forward to delivering another successful project to help future proof the world's busiest single runway."