AROUND 250 construction and supply jobs will be created during the multi-million euro Cork Airport Runway Reconstruction project.
The main construction contract for the rebuilding of the airport’s main runway has gone to Colas Limited, part of the International Colas Group, a leader in the field in the design, maintenance and construction of transport infrastructure. They have four offices in Ireland with their Irish head office located in Maynooth.
Minister of State at the Department of Transport Hildegarde Naughton visited the airport this week to meet with managing director Niall MacCarthy and Colas Ireland’s Gearoid Lohan and confirmed the approval of €10m in Government funding towards this project with the balance of the funding coming from Cork Airport’s parent company, daa plc, to complete the project.
Mobilisation and preparatory site works will begin at night immediately, without impacting the airport’s summer flight schedule.
The main construction works will follow on a 24/7 basis over a 10-week period from September 13th. Construction of the new runway will be completed by November 22nd in advance of the busy Christmas travel period.
Over €40m is being invested in Cork Airport between 2020-2022 to upgrade the critical infrastructure at the Airport of which the main runway reconstruction, a new Electrical Sub-Station and a new Hold Baggage Security screening system, constitute the major parts. Colas was awarded the contract following an extensive EU tender process.
Planning and design work for the reconstruction of the main runway started last year. Last Autumn, in light of the financial difficulties caused by Covid-19 and the strategic importance of the Cork Airport runway project to the entire Southern region, funding was sought from Government to proceed with the project.
Cork Airport followed a comprehensive EU procurement process commencing last November leading to the award of the contract this week following design completion.
Minister Naughton said: ‘This will be the single biggest investment by any Government at Cork Airport and, when complete, it will serve as a key strategic asset for Cork and the entire region over the next 20 years.’
Niall MacCarthy said: ‘This project forms part of a total investment and upgrade programme of €40m between 2020 and 2022 so that the infrastructure at Cork Airport is positioned for recovery post-Covid-19.’
The rebuilding of the main runway is the largest construction project to be undertaken at Cork Airport since the building of the new terminal 15 years ago.
The scale of the project involves 3,000 truckloads of asphalt, 500 maintenance hole pits to be built, 140 kilometres of electrical cable and 60 kilometres of cable duct and drains to be laid.
