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Finnish airport paving contract

The Finnish contractor Lemminkäinen is currently working on a paving contract for Finavia, the company which maintains Finland's airports. The contract includes paving milling, as well as paving work for runway 3 and taxiways at Helsinki- Vantaa airport. Lemminkäinen began its operations on the €20 million paving contract in April 2012 and the work is expected to end in the autumn of 2014. Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is an important traffic hub for Finland, as well as for the region, with around 15 million pass
October 12, 2012 Read time: 3 mins
The Benninghoven twin tower plant Lemminkäinen now operating at Helsinki-vantaa airport is one of the largest in Europe
The Finnish contractor 3064 Lemminkäinen is currently working on a paving contract for Finavia, the company which maintains Finland's airports. The contract includes paving milling, as well as paving work for runway 3 and taxiways at Helsinki- Vantaa airport. Lemminkäinen began its operations on the €20 million paving contract in April 2012 and the work is expected to end in the autumn of 2014. Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is an important traffic hub for Finland, as well as for the region, with around 15 million passengers passing through the facility in 2011. For the duration of the contract, attention will be paid to ensure that the work has the minimum effect on the flow of air traffic, according to Finavia.

According to preliminary calculations, the work will involve around 300,000tonnes of paving. 6704 Finavia also pointed out that to minimise disruption, it is important that the changes are carried out as fast, cost-efficiently and safely as possible. And because of the scale of the work required and the short paving window arising from Finland’s cold winter climate, the contractor opted to set up a large scale asphalt plant on-site. The twin tower system stands close to 60m high and was erected to supply material in the quantities required for the paving work. With this equipment the Lemminkäinen Group is now operating one of Europe’s largest twin tower asphalt plants, which features a total capacity of 720tonnes/hour.

The 167 Benninghoven plant comprises two systems joined together, one with a 400tonne/ hour mixer and the other featuring a 320tonne/ hour mixer. Of note is the fact that both plants are equipped with RAP drums and one features a filler heating system and a mastic asphalt storage agitator silo. In addition, a polymer plant is located directly alongside the asphalt plant to speed material supply and optimise operating efficiency.

The contract is based on the partnership model and is of major significance to both Finavia and Lemminkäinen. This partnership between customer and contractor is the first of its kind in the Finnish paving sector according to Lemminkäinen. According to Lemminkäinen, an airport is an extremely challenging working environment and quality requirements are high for both materials and precast paving, in addition to which there are a multitude of international safety regulations. However, Lemminkäinen says that it has extensive experience of airport paving work, both in Finland and internationally. And in fact, Lemminkäinen also recently signed a deal with Skanska for Norway’s Gardermoen airport. This deal involves paving some 20,000tonnes of material.

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