Gold Coast Airport

Planit won a competitive tender to provide design and construction management services for the civil works required for the Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Gold Coast Airport. This project included design of earthworks, roads and stormwater drainage adjacent to the runway and Cobaki Broadwater wetlands. There were two parts of the project: the ‘localiser’ and the ‘glide path’. Both areas are effectively constructed earthworks pads with perimeter roads and major stormwater infrastructure.

Both locations are in low lying areas with minimal grade, making the stormwater design a major challenge. Major risks and design issues associated with the project included contaminated land management (including PFAS and asbestos), airside operations, acid sulphate soils, flood/stormwater/tidal management, revegetation to mitigate bird attraction, reducing long term maintenance, project budgets and timeframes for implementation (the ILS needed to be operational prior to the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games).

This was a critical safety project for Gold Coast Airport and required consultation with the end client: Air Services Australia (AsA). AsA are responsible for airside safety and emergency operations and required the ILS equipment for safer landing processes for aircraft.