As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, a dedicated working group was established at Leeds Bradford Airport to manage the many aspects of airport security and the safety of everyone - staff, contractors, visitors and passengers. The aim to create an exceptionally clean and operationally efficient terminal was the priority and a decision was made to install additional reception buildings for visitors coming into the terminal, both landside and airside, to support this.
These ‘passenger reception centres’ provide an additional way to control the flow of people and establish additional safety measures. They are manned by airport ambassadors who provide information, explain the new processes and reassure visitors. The additional structures also allow for the space within the existing terminal building to be utilised for social distancing.
This was available off the shelf
An established relationship with Smart-Space meant that rapid plans could be made to introduce a new building landside and repurpose an existing Smart-Space building for airside use.
“We chose a building with a glazed frontage”explained Tony Hiorns, Engineering Director and project lead. “It makes the space accessible and open: people can see inside before they enter so it’s less intimidating.”
“The confines of our existing terminal building meant that we needed an external solution to enable us to properly perform additional checks and meet safety requirements at speed. Luckily for us this was available off the shelf when I enquired so we could organise an immediate install. The Smart-Space team responded quickly and both buildings were ready for use within a fortnight.”
The team listened, understood, and did everything we asked of them
“The on-site team was managed by Andy Freeman at Smart-Space and I can’t say enough about how well they worked with us. I work very comfortably with Andy, we understand each other’s work approach. Despite having worked together before, we still had to go through the airport’s rigorous induction process. The team listened, understood, and did everything we asked of them. Packaging was immediately disposed of and they were incredibly tidy and respectful of the environment: this is particularly important on the runways of course” said Tony.
The team worked within all of the security regulations and modified working methods to adapt to the airport’s strict regulations and safety procedures.
“The guys installed both buildings in challenging conditions” noted Tony. “It was hailing, raining and windy but they didn’t complain or slow down, they just got on with the job and completed it methodically, clearly showing lots of experience of working together.”
Tony was pleased with how the Smart-Space team organised themselves and made the most of the time allocated to them.
The project went exactly to plan and will remain in place for the foreseeable future, providing some flexible space, rented on a month-by-month basis as the airport working group monitors changes and updates to its operations in response to the effects of the pandemic.
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“The team’s positivity and can-do attitude was so refreshing””
