Edinburgh Airport Main Runway Surfacing Repairs

The brief

The Spring 2025 Main Runway Surfacing Repairs scheme involved the surface repair and replacement of small, medium, and large asphalt sections of the main runway at Edinburgh airport. Work was completed on night shift at weekends under a short runway closure window each night between the final scheduled flight and 04.30am.

Our scope of work included:

• Planning, preparation, and paperwork in advance of the project.

• Planing out the patches as per the schedule of works.

• Precision saw cutting the patch joints and breaking out the cut areas using excavators.

• Sweeping and pressure washing repair areas to ensure no dirt was present on the vertical faces of the joints.

• Drying the patches and joints using a hot compressed air lance and painting the vertical face of the joints with bitumen.

• Spray application of tack coat to the repair area.

• Laying of 10mm SMA airport spec asphalt surface course to 50mm, 60mm and 100mm depth.

Key quantities:

• Patches laid: 150+
• Airport spec SMA Asphalt: 260 t
• Plant & Staff combined per shift: 49

Challenges & successes

The work was deemed to be urgent due to the deterioration of the runway surface and the need to maintain high standards of runway safety. The work, therefore, had to be completed on nightshift weekends. The working window for each shift was short (midnight to 4.30am) during which all of our planned work had to be completed and the runway fully swept before being handed back to the airport operations department.

To ensure reopening deadlines were met and to mitigate risk of project delays and plant breakdowns, we deployed standby operatives, surfacing plant and had standby asphalt suppliers on call.

The project required extensive security clearances for our staff and material suppliers and security checks were regularly carried out on our staff, equipment, and material deliveries.

Outputs & Benefits

All deadlines met: We successfully met every reopening deadline, ensuring the airport could resume normal operation every morning.

Health & Safety: There were zero reportable incidents, resulting in DSD Construction achieving an ‘excellent’ safety rating.