The renovation of an older door system at the Grand Hangar of the Geneva Airport without even the slightest interference with the hangar and airport operation was yet another opportunity to prove the capability of Butzbach, not only as the provider of high-quality hangar doors, but also in particular with regard to smoothly functioning project management.
Installation work during active operation
As part of the renovation of the Grand Hangar, a sliding door system was installed that is 250 meters wide and almost 15 meters tall. During the entire preparation and remodelling phase, airport operation was not to be impeded to even the slightest degree; this operation was maintained with no deviations at all times. “It was also important to the customer that the hangar did not remain open at night during any portion of the remodelling phase,” stated Achim Schmeißer, the responsible project manager at Butzbach. “As early as the bidding phase we already came up with a daily schedule that described all of the project steps in detail so that no interference with the day-to-day activities occurred on site.”
Pre-defined window for transport and work at the hangar
In order to satisfy the requirements with regard to the uninterrupted maintenance of airport operation, the door leaves were pre-assembled in a hall about 800 meters from the installation site. “There was only a very narrow window at night for the transport of the pre-assembled door leaves to the hangar,” explained Mathias Fogako, the site manager in charge, who was on site for the entire assembly phase. “Between midnight and 5:00 a.m. we were able to transport the door leaves from the assembly area to the installation site. We always assembled four of the twelve total door leaves at a time, transported these to the hangar and then mounted them the next morning.” It was also necessary to adhere to a pre-defined window for the mounting of the door leaves. Because several rails are present, it was possible to install the door leaves directly in front of the old door system; the hangar could always be securely closed, even at these times. After the new door leaves were in position, the old door leaves located behind these could be disassembled and work on the new standing door leaves could continue. This was repeated another two times until the complete door system was finally replaced.
Complex project management
With a project of this scope – particularly in terms of organisation – a great number of people are involved both in the planning and then later at the construction site. All preliminary planning, required adjustments on site, the preparation and processing of the assembly, the processing of all necessary approval procedures and the disassembly and disposal of the old door – this work was all completely coordinated by Butzbach. Site manager Mathias Fogako was on site for the entire installation period and thus remained the point of contact for the customer and the liaison to the other participants in the project.
