Schiphol Tomorrow | Redevelopment of Lounge 1 has begun

And we're off! Work on the redevelopment of Lounge 1 was officially launched at a kick-off meeting in the old Crew Centre (BMC). The entire project team, stakeholders, business partners and the executing contractor ESAP (a SPIE and Equans construction consortium) gathered to toast the launch and a great collaboration.

Kick-off redevelopment of Lounge

We'll be working hard in Lounge 1 in the coming period. We're adding 5,000 square metres of the former BMC to the upgraded lounge in order to create more space and ensure a better passenger flow. In total, we're remodelling 24,000 square metres of floor space, which is about five football pitches.

Hanne Buis, Lieve Declercq (SPIE) and Marleen Prins (Equans) opened the meeting with speeches and by pressing the symbolic start button together. They talked about 'the great project we are going to do together that focuses on sustainability and circularity'.

Milestone

These words were almost immediately followed by deeds. We reached another milestone some two weeks later when the first seventeen foundation piles went into the ground on Cockpitplein. These will carry the connecting passageway between the old BMC and the BC corridor. In the future, passengers departing from piers C, B and A will walk through here.

To avoid inadvertently hitting a cable or pipe, we assessed the area together with BAM Infra a year ago and rerouted cables or pipes where necessary. Because these are very close together in some places, BAM Infra placed hollow tubes (casings) in the ground. This makes pile driving faster and safer.

Challenges

During the redevelopment, we will recycle over 90 per cent of the materials. In this way, the project contributes to Schiphol's goal of being a completely waste-free airport by 2030. Another significant challenge we face is that the lounge must remain operational at all times during the works. We want to keep inconvenience to passengers to a minimum, which is why we are working in phases. Furthermore, the work is taking place at night as much as possible.

Want to find out more about the redevelopment of Lounge 1? You can find the information here.