New Zealand’s ninth-largest airport by visitor numbers, which sits over an active fault line, has pushed play on the demolition and redevelopment of its new terminal building. Starting work late last month, the NZ $43 million revamp of Palmerston North airport – to be constructed by LT McGuinness – is the latest in a long line of airports embracing mass timber over steel-and-concrete, with crews to install a massive glulam mono-pitch roof over a 5,000 square-metre area, with glulam columns supporting the rafters and X-frame beams forming the front and back walls.
“We are delighted to contribute our glulam expertise to such a vital infrastructure project for the Manawatū region,” said Brett Hamilton, Managing Director of Techlam – who late last week secured the contract. “The design for the new Palmerston North Airport terminal highlights the increasing recognition of engineered timber as a preferred structural material, particularly for large scale, high-performance public buildings.”
Designed by Studio Pacific, the architects behind Air New Zealand’s timber hangar, and with engineering support from Beca, Wood Central understands that the build will feature a new timber-framed terminal – that will use a special diagrid structure – that ensures the building will be fully earthquake-resilient and flexible enough to accommodate future growth, enhancing the passenger experience through features such as a double-height central portion that allows for natural light. In addition to carbon, waste and energy benefits, “glulam delivers excellent strength-to-weight performance, dimensional stability, natural fire resistance and seismic performance,” Techlam said in a statement.
According to David Lanham, Airport CEO, finalising the contract for LT McGuiness (late last month) was “an exciting milestone” for a project revealed in October last year: “The terminal has served us well for over 30 years; however, we needed to address terminal deficiencies,” he said, with the airport (which carries flights from Air NZ and Originair) welcoming more than 700,000 passengers a year before Covid-19.
A Closer Look at the New Terminal Design
- Western End: The western end of the new terminal will serve as a hub for baggage handling, airline offices, and cargo acceptance. This area has been designed with the flexibility to accommodate future government-mandated screening requirements, ensuring the terminal remains adaptable to evolving security standards.
- Main Hub: This double-height space will form the heart of the terminal, providing check-in facilities, departure lounges, passenger dwell areas, retail spaces, café options, and essential amenities such as restrooms.
- Eastern End: Dedicated to arriving passengers, this area will include baggage claim and car rental services. A full-length airside corridor will run parallel to the terminal for its full length, offering passengers protection from the elements when boarding or disembarking. It will also house rental car services, a meeting room, and operational offices for Palmerston North Airport.
For more information about the airport redevelopment, click here to visit the dedicated Palmerston North airport home page.
