You can find asphalt at many locations at Schiphol. On the roads, cycle paths, pedestrian walkways, bridges and viaducts. There’s so much asphalt that maintenance is always needed somewhere. And we’re doing that in an increasingly sustainable way.
Many parties at Schiphol are working on reducing their emissions. That includes the construction companies at the airport site. Our building partners have been working with us on this issue for a number of years now, but it’s not an easy task. Construction uses special equipment that is not yet widely available in electrical form. But the foundations have been laid. Schiphol is one of the contracting parties encouraging and driving the development of electric equipment. Including for the asphalting of our public roads.
A lot still needs to be learned when it comes to laying asphalt in a more sustainable way. Can all the necessary equipment be provided on time? Will the batteries deliver the required performance? If not, how can we solve that problem? Schiphol is giving BAM the space to gain experience. Over the past three years, sections of public road at the airport have been paved using electric equipment. And a lot of lessons have been learned. We have now reached the point where the entire process – from transportation from the asphalt plant to laying and rolling – can be done electrically.
The ambition of Schiphol and BAM is to, whenever possible, use electric equipment to lay asphalt on the public roads around the airport. However, there is still a limitation to deal with: electric equipment is not yet widely available. This means that we will still need to use fuel-powered machines at many locations over the next few years.
Making asphalting more sustainable involves more than the use of electric equipment. The asphalt itself is also being produced more sustainably. And this is urgently needed, given its large carbon footprint. This is partly due to the high temperatures involved in production. After thorough research, BAM has now developed a method to produce high-quality asphalt at lower temperatures. We are applying this method as standard at Schiphol. A type of asphalt requiring less bitumen has also been developed. Schiphol is one of the few places in the Netherlands where this is being used.
At every construction site, including locations where roadworks are going on, there’s a construction cabin. These temporary buildings are also becoming more sustainable. Traditionally, the electricity here was supplied by diesel generators. But that’s changing. There’s already a construction cabin at Schiphol with solar panels on the roof. And we’re so pleased with it that, starting from mid-2025, we’ll be using cabins with solar panels as much as possible when carrying out work activities on our public roads.