At A Glance:
- Location : Gatwick Airport, West Sussex
- Client: Boeing Corporation
- Contractor: John Sisk & Son Ltd
Products Supplied:
- 240,000 litre capacity in each tank
- Over 3 million litre total capacity
- Installed on a special concrete base slab with a granular bedding and backfill.
- Rapid installation as all the tanks are fully off-site built.
- Lightweight design also aids quick installation
With 15,000m2 of floor space and a height of 32 metres to the eaves there is space in the Hangar to hold 8 Boeing 737 aircraft at any one time! This huge Boeing Goldcare hangar enables Boeing to offer maintenance services, including repairs and upgrades, right on-site at Gatwick Airport, which is widely used by many of Boeing’s customers. The hangar was constructed by John Sisk & Son at a cost of around £88m in total.
Due to the many potentially flammable activities being undertaken and materials stored within the new hangar, a huge fire suppression system consisting of a foam dispensing sprinkler system. This firefighting foam could not be released into the environment due to the potentially harmful contaminants that may get picked up and because of the chemicals within the foam itself. The flow rate of the sprinkler system was vast and therefore over 3 million litres of capacity was required to store all of the foam in the case of a catastrophic fire.
Due to the large excavation size, a granular (pea gravel) installation was chosen due to the amount of concrete that would otherwise be required. The tanks were installed on a special concrete base slab with a granular bedding and backfill. SPEL manufactured the tanks in an Extra Heavy shell specification to ensure longevity of the tanks with the added pressures put on the tanks by a granular surround. SPEL provide a full range of burial depth charts, which can be used to choose the correct tank shell specifications based on burial depths, water table levels and the surround material being used.
To ensure the tanks were solidly held in position and there was no possibility of shifting or potential flotation they were anchored down with the SPEL Mechanical Anchoring System. SPEL provide the full Mechanical Anchoring System, including the brackets and expansion anchor bolts for bolting to the concrete base slab. It is very important that the SPEL strap sets are used because they are provided with strap locator’s which keep the straps on the ribs. Not using SPEL Mechanical Anchoring straps could result in damage to the tank and invalidation of the SPEL 25 Year Tank Shell Warranty.
