Glasgow Airport Investment Area
Project Overview
The Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS) centred on Netherton Campus, a 52-hectare site next to Glasgow Airport, will be an internationally recognised centre for innovation, research and manufacturing in Scotland’s industrial heartland.
To help realise this vision, the Glasgow Airport Investment Area project delivers enabling infrastructure including the realignment of Abbotsinch Road, new bridges crossing the White Cart and Black Cart Waters and opportunities for leisure and active travel.
Improved connections between existing business areas, Glasgow Airport and the Advanced Manufacturing & Innovation District Scotland will encourage economic growth through the creation of a district for innovation and commerce.
Key focus areas:
- Surveys (topographical, bathymetric, ecology, utilities) and site Investigation
- Feasibility & Specimen Design (roads, structures, drainage, lighting, geotechnical and environmental)
- Contamination assessment and remediation
- Flood risk assessment
- Transport planning & assessment
- Environmental impact assessment
- Planning application and statutory consents
- Statutory and public consultation
- Contract strategy and document preparation
- Advance works
- Construction procurement and delivery
- Supervision of construction
The Challenge
The £1.13bn Glasgow City Region City Deal is an agreement between the UK Government, the Scottish Government and eight local authorities across the Glasgow City Region. Renfrewshire Council is playing a key role in delivering the Glasgow Airport Investment Area Project (GAIA) to:
- help facilitate future airport expansion and the creation of a world class business and commercial location in the heart of Renfrewshire providing many local jobs
- improve connections between Paisley and Glasgow Airport, existing business parks, new development sites and significant population and employment areas
- provide a new, more attractive link between Paisley and Glasgow Airport
- enhance the local environment using high-quality landscaping to encourage high quality development and regeneration
- improve access to key residential, employment, education, leisure and retail sites for all modes of transport, including improved opportunities for leisure and active travel alongside and across the White Cart
- optimise the operation of the local road network, resulting in improved journey time reliability and safety.
The Solution
Our philosophy was to work with the client, subconsultants, suppliers and stakeholders to form an integrated project team committed to delivering high quality development infrastructure on time and at the lowest deliverable cost. A flexible consultative approach was used to promote a consensus view to developing solutions and avoid time spent on unacceptable options.
Option generation and assessment
Constraints and opportunities were used to identify locations for bridges, roads and cycleways that delivered project objectives, linking adjacent sites and complementing other investments and strategies (Renfrewshire Cycleway Strategy, Paisley Town Centre Regeneration Strategy).
Selected options were assessed and refined in an appraisal process to establish the most appropriate and cost-effective option that integrated masterplan aspirations while maximising flexibility for future development including airport expansion.
Risk and value management workshops fine-tuned options which were presented in a shopping list to allow Renfrewshire Council to select components deliverable within the fixed funded budget.
Stakeholder engagement
From the outset stakeholder (communities, businesses and statutory) engagement was carried out in as comprehensive a way as possible to maximise the potential for engagement. Using direct face to face meetings, exhibitions, printed media and digital interaction at three key stages in the development of the project we were able to:
- gauge statutory consultee and public opinion on developing proposals
- identify and address concerns through testing and mitigation
Environmental impact assessment
Due to the proximity to the adjacent Clyde Waterfront & Renfrew Riverside project, a combined Environmental Statement provided regulators and consultees with accessible information. This was presented in a series of volumes for common aspects, project specific predicted effects and a comprehensive cumulative environmental assessment including committed development.
Carbon reduction
Centred on the PAS 2080:2016 methodology, a carbon baseline was calculated at the Options Appraisal Stage and updated at the Specimen Design Stage to enable the identification of carbon ‘hotspots’, allowing design teams to focus their efforts on carbon-intensive areas ensuring a proportionate focus on carbon reduction.
Contract & procurement strategy
Supplier engagement via an Industry Information event and 1-2-1 engagement meetings informed workshops which concluded the optimum approach as a two-stage tender using an NEC 4 Design and Construct Contract with physical conditions risk transfer.
Advance works contracts, aimed at minimising risk of delay and increases in cost to the main works contracts, included archaeology, demolition, tree felling, removal of invasive non-native species and protected species mitigation.
Carbon reduction was incorporated as a key metric within the procurement process. We helped our client assess tendering contractors on their technical and professional understanding of PAS 2080 principles.
The Result and Benefit to the Client
We developed future-proofed infrastructure to support the aspiration for a world class development site, creating and implementing a design guide for future development to ensure a consistent site-wide high-quality environment. All concerns addressed through stakeholder engagement streamlined the statutory approval process.
The project attracted development in the form of:
- The National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) – a joint skills academy and centre for manufacturing excellence to transform productivity levels, make companies more competitive and boost the skills of the current and future workforce.
- Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre (MMIC) – an industry-led centre offering pharmaceutical companies from start-ups to multinationals a unique service to develop new manufacturing techniques which speed up bringing new drugs to market.
