Ramping up the Rockhampton Airport Maintenance Precinct

Our task was to design a dedicated airport maintenance precinct that enables maintenance activities to return to Rockhampton and supports the future development and economic growth of the region for the next decade and beyond.

As an essential link in the critical supply chain of essential goods (including food and medicine) to Northern Australia, and a key source of future economic development for the Rockhampton community, the design needed to carefully integrate local development aspirations and future developments earmarked in the Rockhampton Airport Master Plan.

The major challenges were managing the low-lying, flood-prone site and poor ground conditions, and accessing highly specialised materials in a regional area while reducing risk and keeping the design solution commercially viable for the client and community.

Working in collaboration with our project partners Rockhampton Airport, BMD and AHRENS, and our client Alliance Airlines (AA), our team undertook the full civil design with the 'design-for-place' approach to the project providing opportunities for several innovations.

Our team delivered several innovative design solutions, including pavement and drainage solutions that were appropriate for the difficult ground conditions, the extensive use of local materials and re-use of site fill, and the realignment of quality assurance requirements to make them fit‐for context.

The key principles underpinning the design were:

Place-based design: The pavements, concrete mix, earthworks, and drainage were uniquely adapted to the usage, content and local conditions at Rockhampton Airport, offering significant cost savings on materials acquisition, program timing and logistics, and waste management, and supporting better sustainability outcomes and development of local capacity and capability through upskilling.

Environmental and economic sustainability: The stringent nature of aviation pavement specifications can be hard to achieve in regional and remote locations with limited local availability of materials. The often prohibitive costs associated with freighting materials that meet the standard for regional and remote locations can also be a significant barrier to the development and maintenance of airports and airstrips in these areas. For that reason, we used a practical, risk-based approach and extensive local materials to save significant time and materials costs.

Long-term vision: The design integrates with the Rockhampton Regional Council 2017‐2037 Airport Masterplan and the Airport Spatial Masterplan. Combined, these plans allow Rockhampton Regional Council to assess and leverage development and funding opportunities for the region in the coming decade.

A blueprint for regional and remote airfields: The design offers a blueprint that can be adopted by other regional, rural and remote communities where airstrip infrastructure is often a critical link in the supply of essential goods and services and is at the heart of economic development opportunities for communities.

This project has supported the continued development of Rockhampton Airport as a cornerstone of the Rockhampton community’s success for generations to come. Careful design with consideration to the airport’s future state and local development aspirations have supported positive outcomes for the client and the broader community, including:

• Returning maintenance capacity to Australia: the new facility allows Alliance Airlines to rehome and return maintenance activities to Rockhampton, saving over $1 million per trip in fuel and other costs.
• A new industry for the community: more than 225 jobs have been created for the region and a new industry that offers attractive employment pathways for school leavers and trades.
• Support for local trades and suppliers: extensive engagement and upskilling of local suppliers, trades and construction workers has improved in-region skills, capability and on-the-tools knowledge for projects of this magnitude while supporting local business and industry.
• Regional economic growth: the community will benefit from an economic boost of approximately $30 million annually plus additional local employment and economic opportunities.