Name and Location
St Helena Airport development, St Helena Island.

Client
The British government’s Department for International Development (DFID).

Project Description
St Helena Island is located about 1 900 km from Africa, measuring 16 km by 8 km, and is one of the world’s most remote locations, with Ascension Island more than 1 000 km away.

The project involves the construction of an airport on the island. It will feature a 1 950 m high-quality concrete runway, with taxiways and an apron to cater for aircraft up to the size of an Airbus A320 and a Boeing 737-800; a rockfill embankment of about eight-million cubic metres, through which a 750-m-long reinforced-concrete culvert will run; a 3 500 m² airport terminal building and support infrastructure; air-traffic control systems; a bulk fuel installation for six-million litres of diesel and aviation fuel; a 14 km airport access road; and all related logistics.

The island’s only lifeline to the outside world has been the Royal Mail Ship, the RMS St Helena, which calls regularly at St Helena Island. As a community that has no internal resources or an industry to support its economy, the British government has been providing extensive financial support for the island.

The bulk of the capital is spent on maintaining and operating the RMS St Helena. It is hoped that the new airport will address some of the socioeconomic difficulties on the island, boost the prosperity of islanders through tourism and help curb the exodus of its inhabitants who are seeking work in Britain.

To assist in completing the St Helena International Airport, Basil Read has chartered a massive Thai cargo vessel, the NP Glory 4 from NP Marine for 36 months to transport fuel, materials and plant to and from the island.

Value
The project, funded by the DFID, was valued at £250-million, but the total value of the project for phases 1 and 2 has increased to about £265-million.

Duration
Once the projected construction of the first phase of the airport is completed in February 2016, the travel time from Cape Town to St Helena will be reduced from seven days, or 168 hours, to a mere five hours. After construction, the operations phase of the contract will continue in partnership with South Africa’s Lanseria Airport for a further ten years.

Latest Developments
The final version of the St Helena Airport logo has been endorsed and approved by Executive Council Elected Members, and will be used in various applications – principally by Basil Read.

Basil Read’s certification and operational readiness and airport managers, arrived in St Helena in August to finalise plans for the calibration flights, currently scheduled for mid-September.

The airport will have a number of navigational aids (NavAids) available to aircraft using the airport. The NavAids enable pilots to locate the Island and then zero-in, so it is essential that they are as accurate as possible to ensure pilots know their exact position relative to the runway and to any obstacles that may be around the airport.

The NavAids need to be calibrated to ensure accuracy, and the calibration flights will check that the information received by pilots from the NavAids is correct. Once calibrated, the NavAids will be inspected and tested on a yearly, as a minimum, to ensure they maintain their accuracy.

The calibration flights will also check and verify the Instrument Flight Procedures (IFPs) that have been designed for use at St Helena Airport. IFPs are standard procedures that tell a pilot how to fly using instruments when it is not safe to solely rely on visual flight techniques to maintain safety.

Once the NavAids have been calibrated, the calibration pilots will practise using the IFPs to check that they are correct and make any adjustments if necessary.

Meanwhile, the design and placement of fencing – one of the security measures essential for St Helena Airport to meet the requirements for certification – is being finalised.

The security fencing will be used to restrict access in areas where there is a risk that animals or unauthorised persons might enter the airport site. St Helena Airport is bordered in some places by steep cliffs, where it will not be necessary to fence.

The fencing will be in place by late October, before the audits for airport certification.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Basil Read (designer, builder and operator); Worley Parsons (lead design and landside designs); Virtual Consulting (airside designs); KMH Architects and LYT Architects (architects); Atkins and WSP (independent certifiers); PRDW (marine designs); Lanseria Airport International (operations); Thales (AGL, Navaids – DVOR); Southern African Institute for Environmental Assessment, or SAIEA (environmental); Trotech (bulk fuel installation); BME (explosives); Ohorongo Cement (cement) and Babcock (supply and maintenance of Volvo construction equipment).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Basil Read project director Jimmy Johnston, tel +27 11 418 6325 or communications manager Jenny Smith, tel +27 11 418 6466.
Halcrow project management unit, tel +290 24258 or email Andreas.Huber@ch2m.com.
Babcock, tel +27 11 230 7300.
St Helena government air access office, tel +290 22494 or email tessa.roberts@sainthelena.gov.sh.
DFID, tel +44 1355 84 3132, fax +44 1355 84 4099 or email enquiry@dfid.gov.uk.
Worley Parsons, tel +27 12 745 2000 or fax +27 12 745 2001.
Virtual Consulting, tel +27 12 452 0444 or fax +27 12 452 0583.
KMH Architects, tel +27 11 447 4190, fax +27 11 447 2712 or email arch@kmh.co.za.
LYT Architects, email info@lyt.co.za.
WSP, tel +27 11 361 1300.
PRDW, tel +27 21 418 3830, fax +27 21 418 3834 or email info@prdw.co.za.
Lanseria Airport International, tel +27 11 367 0300.
SAIEA, tel +27 21 789 0251 or fax +27 21 789 0257.
Trotech, tel +27 31 764 1573 or fax +27 31 764 3353.