Canopies & Shelters

from PSBJ May 2022

Product Showcase

SEAMLESS SHELTERED CONNECTIONS

More sustainable travel options have been opened up to passengers and staff at London Luton Airport through improvements linked to the development of the DART. Here, Broxap Street Furniture talks to PSBJ about the installation of its canopies for the development’s walkways.

The DART (Direct Air-Rail Transit) will take travellers from Luton Airport Parkway station directly to the terminal of the airport in under four minutes.

The aim is to encourage more people to leave the car at home when heading to the airport and comes on the back of an upgrade to the bus and coach station adjacent to the terminal in 2019.

In both cases, Broxap Street Furniture has designed, manufactured and installed attractive canopies and walkways to provide seamless links from the drop-off points to the airport building.

Luton Borough Council-owned London Luton Airport Ltd (LLAL), which owns the site, said having sustainable surface transport options for employees and passengers will lower the number of vehicles on the local road network, and reduce single-occupancy vehicle use.

The latest improvement, as part of the £225m DART project, is the installation of a 150m bespoke walkway based on Broxap’s flagship ‘Newcastle’ design.

The freestanding walkway features clear multi-wall polycarbonate cladding and is an essential element in the passenger journey, forming the final connection between ground transportation and the boarding of aircraft.

Overhauling the airport experience is also designed to bring improvements for staff with LLAL setting a target to increase employee travel by rail from 7 to 9%, roughly an extra 170 employees, when the DART opens this year.

The bus and coach interchange at the airport already provides local, regional and long-distance journeys and its redevelopment in 2019 brought services in closer proximity to the terminal.

Passengers are welcomed by tensile fabric canopies which stand out thanks to their iconic wave design, complementing the airport’s logo.

One of the canopies forms a 93m walkway along the bus and coach station concourse, clearly and safely guiding passengers to the terminal entrance.

Here, two tensile fabric entrance canopies continue to protect passengers and staff from the elements, providing a sheltered waiting area and defining the airport building’s access points.

At the end of 2019, London Luton Airport was the UK’s fifth largest and one of its fastest-growing airports, serving almost 18 million passengers a year and, therefore, wayfinding and ease of access was deemed crucial for passenger confidence.

Increasing sustainable travel options is also vital to minimise the impact of the resulting air travel.

Meanwhile, long-term expansion proposals by LLAL would see the creation of an additional 12,000 jobs and capacity increased to 32 million passengers.

The DART, a joint-venture project between contractors VolkerFitzpatrick and Kier, known as VFK, is a 2.1km transit system which will make it easier for the increasing numbers of passengers to reach the airport.

Shuttles will leave every four minutes, with passengers linking to the Parkway from London St Pancras station reaching the terminal building in 30 minutes.

Moving such a significant amount of passenger traffic from road to rail must be accompanied by high-quality landside infrastructure that can withstand demand, while also continuing to improve the experience.  www.broxap.com