Riverina Western - Dubbo Dubbo City Regional Airport

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Picture of Gavin Priestley
Gavin Priestley Regional Director 02 6339 5900

Dubbo City Regional Airport is one of the leading regional airports in Australia and is located approximately 400 km to the west of Sydney with a population of approximately 40,000 people.

Due to weight and tyre pressure requirements, all· existing regular public transport aircraft operates under a pavement concession granted by Dubbo City Regional Airport.  The aerodrome runway lighting did not comply with regulations and the lighting system also operated under an exemption from Civil Aviation Safety Authority under regulation CASR 11.175.

Dubbo Regional Council were required to undertake both an asphalt concrete overlay to strengthen the runway to meet the needs of existing aircraft requirements and to enable larger aircraft to operate in the future.  Upgrade of the Airport Ground Lighting (AGL) system.  Council sought assistance from NSW Public Works to deliver the asphalt and lighting upgrades for the project on their behalf. The design of the new runway and lighting systems was arranged separately.

NSW Public Works was responsible for the management of separate tenders for the works including the selection of tenderers for the runway upgrade through an initial expression of interest process and subsequent D&C contract. NSW Public Works was responsible for the construction management and contract administration of both contracts, initial community consultation and project management of the complete project.  The initial timeframe for the project had some limitations on the when the strengthening works could be carried out (i.e. between January and March 2018) which meant that programming was critical.

With over 180 Regular Public Transport (RPT) flights per week, charter flights, general aviation flight training and airfreight operations, the runway overlay works could also not be undertaken during regular hours with works being having to be carried out each night between 09:00pm each and 05:00am the following morning.  The lighting works were carried out under normal hours however restricted access meant that contractors had to vacate the area each time a plane landed.  Despite tight time frames and limited budgets, the project was delivered on time and within budget with both contracts running concurrently.