Laing O’Rourke signs £1bn airport revamp

Laing O’Rourke has signed a major contract with Manchester Airports Group to lead the first stage of its £1bn development programme.  

Laing O’Rourke was chosen as preferred bidder in July 2016 and has since been carrying out advanced and enabling works in preparation for the award of the main contract. Now finalised, the contractor will proceed with a four-year plan to transform Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport into the primary terminal building.  

This £500m project will increase airport capacity from 25 million passengers a year to 45 million passengers a year.  

The work includes two new security halls, a new international departure lounge and new business lounges, new baggage handling facilities and new airside piers.  

Laing O’Rourke will also build a new 3,800 space multi-storey car parks with direct links to the terminal building, a new access ramp linking the exit of the M56 onto an upgraded and extended forecourt around T2, and carry out a reconfiguration of access roads in and around the new terminal.  

Liam Cummins, Laing O’Rourke’s head of UK building, said: “This is a contract of international significance, working with a progressive client on such a high profile aviation sector transformation.

“We will be required to work sensitively in a live, high-intensity environment, drawing on our engineering expertise as well as our ability to deliver complex and challenging programmes.”