Airports are among the most unforgiving construction environments. They don’t slow down for a pour, pause for a breakdown or accommodate a missed delivery. Flight schedules create immovable deadlines, safety margins are non‑negotiable, and every surface and joint must meet elite specifications with a cast iron guarantee, because otherwise the collateral damage is substantial. In this area of paving and construction, performance is based on precision, discipline and reliability.
CRH has five decades of experience working within these constraints – reconstructing runways under restricted overnight access periods, rebuilding aprons and taxiways to the highest specifications, installing stormwater systems and energy utilities beneath active airfields and delivering precast concrete for terminals without disrupting operations. We’ve learned that our airport customers don’t buy asphalt, concrete or pipes. They buy credibility, reliability and experience – certainty that the runway will be handed back on time, to spec, every time.
Peter Buckley, President of CRH International unpacks why runway renewal is the pinnacle of high-stakes, high-precision construction, and what our airport clients really value in their partner:
- Zero Room for Error
If a runway or taxiway isn’t handed back on time, aircraft don’t land or depart, cascaded delays through airlines, air traffic control, ground handlers and passengers. One missed deadline can affect tens of thousands of people and cost millions. That’s why every decision we make is anchored to the clock. - Tight Windows
Most runway renewals happen overnight, in cold and exposed environments, between the last movement and the first departure of the day with only a few hours to mill, place, compact, groove, mark, test, clear debris and reopen safely. There are no extensions and no excuses. - Highest Specifications
Paving for aprons, taxiways and runways must meet stringent standards for smoothness, friction and durability and quality control is relentless. Because the stakes are so high, new material must undergo years of testing and validation for aviation use – that’s why Marshall Asphalt remains a dominant material of choice for airport runways. The specific grades used are highly standardized, designed for high performance capability and fatigue resistance, while remaining resilient to the chemicals used to de-ice the surface in winter months. But Marshall Asphalt needs experience, and only the highest performing crews will be chosen to work with it, to ensure the right quality finish.
What Airport Clients Actually Value
Across authorities and operators, we hear consistent priorities:
- Operational continuity: Operate at night and keep the airport moving. Minimize disruption and in the context of stormwater solutions, briefs often look to use less land space.
- Credibility and discipline: Ever increasing security profiles to get air side demand a credible record, pre-validated methods, rehearsed contingency plans and transparent communication.
- Assurance: Enough high-spec material, exactly when needed, at controlled temperatures, every night. The work is defined by compliance, and there’s no room for error. Most projects will involve months of planning and testing before crews are dispatched and night one is akin to a military operation with no time for learning on the job.
- Integrated capability: More customers are looking for one team that can manage the repaving, stormwater systems, lighting upgrades, recabling and utility diversions to reduce the risk that’s introduced with handovers.
- Communication: Clear ownership, daily briefs and instant escalation paths are non-negotiable. Airports want a partner as disciplined in communications as they are in construction.
Leveraging Technology and Innovation
Experience aside, innovation and technology are playing a transformative role in revitalizing airport infrastructure, by enabling greater longevity and resilience of materials and by enabling systems that improve operational performance, efficiency, safety and speed.
Technology can offer vital support to ensure a continuous supply of material on site, maximizing productivity, planning deliveries and communicating with the asphalt production plant in real-time. The rise of automation is also proving extremely valuable, for example in generating efficiencies in the plant, in transportation of supply and on the job site itself.
Managing rainwater efficiently is another critical aspect of airport construction. Poor drainage can lead to water accumulation – attracting wildlife and posing significant risk to aircraft safety. Innovation efforts are focused on materials that are more permeable or designing drainage systems with proprietary layers of material that remove (and often filter) runoff quickly and effectively, and often, in a more compact system that maximizes usable land space.
Meanwhile, the EU’s commitment to sustainability underscores the importance of resilient construction and is evident in the mandate for lower-carbon materials, material re-use and a very high standard of energy efficiency across airport construction. In fact, Europe is required to meet some of the world’s strictest environmental and efficiency regulations in construction, which is driving innovation in techniques such as prefabricated systems that reduce waste, materials with improved lifecycle performance and materials and processes that support energy or carbon reduction.
Paving a more resilient built environment
Airport construction is among the most complex and high-stakes undertakings in the built environment. From the outset, contractors and planners must navigate tight schedules, extremely high quality and security standards and the need to minimize disruption to active terminals and surrounding infrastructure. But today’s challenges go beyond logistics. Airport construction today needs to be more focused on the long-game – designing systems that are modular by nature and can adapt to changing demands, or systems that can recover from extreme weather events, surges in passenger volume or technological shifts.
The ability to deliver under pressure, with precision, safety and speed, will continue to define the value of a construction partner, because runway renewal is no place for inexperience. It’s a place for teams who have done it, own the risks and make the operational hand-back a certainty. However, as operational complexity increases, and as airport construction evolves to meet the demands of more connected and resilient planning, innovation and technology will play a bigger role than ever in helping to deliver airport environments that are smarter, stronger, and ready for the next generation of flight.