Manchester Airports Group (MAG)

Challenges and solutions: delivering in live environments

One of the biggest challenges for MAG is to deliver upgrades and improvements in busy airports that operate day and night. BAM has delivered several major programmes in these environments, using innovative solutions to help maintain normal activities.

At Terminal 2, Manchester Airport, BAM recently completed a two-year refurbishment focused on the departures area. The key to this project was to keep passengers flowing through the airport and ensure that it was ‘business as usual’ airside.

As well as constructing a 52-desk check-in zone, BAM refurbished the entrance lobbies, created a new feature welcome wall and built the shell and core for new food and drink outlets. The project involved removing and installing new ceilings, as well as large areas of new flooring and floor repairs. Attention to detail was important: even down to sourcing and carefully matching existing but discontinued flooring tiles. 

When it came to ceilings, BAM used the novel QuikDeck system, suspended from the roof trusses, to carry out high-level building services works without affecting live departure activities below. 

There were no utility drawings for the terminal, so the team had to complete a major track and trace survey to identify where services were. 

Close co-ordination with the baggage conveyor supplier and the contractor carrying out airside works was vital. To keep the terminal open, BAM worked round the clock to minimise disruption, with all deliveries taking place out of hours. 24 million passengers passing through the terminal unhindered during the project, with no disruption to flights.

At East Midlands Airport, BAM has also completed a major expansion and refurbishment of the terminal building. Part of the project involved upgrading the security search area, including installing next-generation scanners that allow passengers to leave liquids and laptops in their bags.

The critical security line was retained throughout the 89 weeks of the project. All eight phases of work in the main airport terminal were complete without disrupting airport operations, with BAM working 24/7 with a variety of airport stakeholders. During that time, over 7.5 million passengers passed through the airport.

Challenges and solutions: enabling future security

Across the aviation industry, vital new measures are being put in place to meet government and CAA targets for improved security. As part of the MAG Future Security Requirements (FSR) programme, BAM has delivered 4 new high-security staff validation checkpoints at Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands Airports. 

The modular, single-storey gatehouses were prefabricated and delivered to site for installation and fit-out, saving time and disruption on site, as the old security cabins had to be demolished before the new ones could be put in place. 

Unfortunately, there were no accurate records of the existing below ground services, including water, gas and vital power and data lines feeding safety and business critical services, such as runway lights and air-traffic control.[AB3.1] So BAM carried out detailed site investigations and surveys before work started.

The project also involved working close to runways, so BAM put in place carefully designed measures that prevented any risk of debris going airside.

With their ultra-robust steel framed construction and air-locked, canopied vehicle search lanes, the new gatehouses are a huge improvement for staff, providing better welfare and administration facilities, as well as significantly enhanced security.

Challenges and solutions: creating car parks to drive growth

Parking is a critical part of every airport estate. BAM has delivered several car parks for MAG: creating vital high-quality infrastructure to ensure safe and efficient connectivity for vehicles and pedestrians. 

The new facilities not only accommodate growing passenger numbers, but they also help to boost revenue, particularly when many spaces are sold months in advance.

The ‘meet and greet’ car park at Manchester Airport, delivered by BAM in Spring 2019, accommodates 6,500 cars in high security. Working on this challenging site – close to the airport runways, existing public car parks and hotels – involved careful planning and organisation to minimise noise and disruption for passengers and MAG operations. 

The car park is right next to a live railway line, so BAM also liaised closely with Network Rail to secure the necessary work permits, after identifying safe minimum distances from the rail line to the site boundary in the event of a collapse crane or piling rig. On the finished car park, mesh cladding on two levels stops headlights dazzling aircraft.

BAM also delivered a six-storey car park with space for 2,500 vehicles at Stansted Airport in 2019, under a design and build contract. The structure features the airport’s first public EV charging points, state-of-the-art numberplate recognition technology linked to the Airport’s sophisticated security systems. 

Challenges and solutions: maintaining and improving building operations 

Behind the scenes at every airport, there’s a complex web of mechanical, electrical, energy and building management systems and tasks that keep the whole facility operating effectively, safely, comfortably and with optimum energy efficiently, around the clock.

In Spring 2025, BAM began a five-year hard services FM contract at East Midlands Airport. Since the contract started, BAM has focused on improving and streamlining service delivery to support MAG’s operations at the Airport, including raising maintenance and upkeep standards across the site and restoring key systems to full functionality[JM4.1].

When it comes to staffing the contract, BAM partnered with the MAG Academy, the Airport’s outreach programme that supports people of all ages and backgrounds to develop new skills and move into jobs. This resulted in several success stories, including recruiting and training up an Academy applicant with no FM experience to become a skilled handyman in the maintenance team.