Glenco has been busy during January working at Lasham Aerodrome. As the aerodrome was constructed in the 1940’s much of the infrastructure is beginning to decay or is in need of replacement. This is very much the situation with the tarmac, much of which is heavily oxidized and is breaking up. There has been some historical subsidence in some areas of the surface causing depressions that result in large puddles after rainfall. The presence of standing water on the surface has accelerated the decay to these areas. The heavy and demanding usage at the aerodrome with large vehicles, plane tugs and the large 737’s require the tarmac to be in good condition and well constructed in order to take the weight and manoeuvring of these vehicles.

Problem areas of the runway and the perimeter access road have been identified and allocated for replacement. We have used a bobcat planer and sweeper attachment to plane down and prepare the specified areas, areas have been regulated to bring them to within surface course tolerance. Once areas regulated, thoroughly compacted and prepared, a new surface course 10mm Tuffdrive SMA HS PMB proprietary surface course with plolymodified binders laid and compacted flush to all adjoining levels. A hardstone granite aggregate is used in the surface course to ensure appropriate skid resistance to the surface when trafficked. A hot pour joint sealant is used to seal the joints to all the reconstructed areas to prevent any water ingress to the new structure.

Due to the continued access requirements during the works, we needed to close sections of the access road but still allowing traffic to pass so traffic management was an important consideration.
Whereas it is always easier to prepare larger areas at one time and reconstruct them accordingly, this luxury was not afforded to us! We needed to prepare a few sections and replace the tarmac on these areas opening up sections again for normal usage. It has been more time consuming to have to work in this manner but it has caused minimal inconvenience to 2 Excel Engineering who manage the airport, so they are very pleased with the way the programme of reconstruction has been run. The functionality and the appearance of the hard surfaces have been greatly enhanced without any impairment to their operational capacity.

An interesting and involved challenge, but nevertheless, Glenco has again brought Quality to the Surface!