Manchester Airport Terminal 2 Transformation Project – Terminal Refurbishment [Phase 2]

Manchester, UK

A £1.3bn programme is transforming Manchester Airport, the third busiest airport in the UK, and helping to facilitate the growth aspirations of the Northern Powerhouse.

The Terminal 2 extension, which opened in 2021, more than doubled the facility’s size and has already received positive feedback from passengers. Phase 2 of the programme, announced in 2023, will see £440m invested to complete Manchester Airport’s transformation, developing the transport hub into a world-class international gateway. Visitors to the expanded, reconfigured terminal will enjoy the very best modern customer experience.

A multidisciplinary team from Buro Happold the delivery of the Terminal 2 extension phase of the Manchester Airport Transformation Programme by providing a range of design disciplines – including civil and structural engineering along with facade design – for the main terminal building, piers, baggage hall, car park and site-wide infrastructure.  Read more about this initial phase here.

The latest £440m investment is the final phase of the £1.3bn Manchester Airport Transformation Programme.

Buro Happold’s multidisciplinary team is delivering consultancy across everything from facades to structures, to civil and geotechnical engineering.

This new phase will see the original Terminal 2 building brought up to line with the new extension, ensuring a high-quality passenger experience throughout.

Upon completion in 2025, around 80% of all passengers will use the expanded Terminal 2.

Challenge

In January 2023, MAG (Manchester Airports Group) announced a £440m investment in Manchester Airport that will transform the passenger experience at the UK’s third largest airport, with new spacious facilities, state-of-the-art technology and equipment, and an exciting array of shops, bars, restaurants and airport lounges. This new phase will see the original Terminal 2 building brought up to line with the new extension, ensuring a high quality passenger experience throughout.

The investment is the final phase of the £1.3bn Manchester Airport Transformation Programme (MAN-TP), first announced in 2015 with a 10-year vision to revolutionise the customer experience at the Northern hub and unlock the potential of its two full-length runways.

The first phase saw Terminal 2 more than double in size, with the new facility receiving positive feedback from passengers and airlines since opening in July 2021. The key challenge for phase 2, is to bring a 30-year-old terminal fully up to date, so that it blends seamlessly with the newly opened Terminal 2 Extension. This needs to be achieved while working in a busy, fully operational airport.

Solution

This latest investment will complete the transformation of Terminal 2, delivering improvements to all stages of the passenger journey – from check-in to baggage reclaim – as well as upgrading its airfield to cater for next generation aircraft.

Upon completion in 2025, around 80% of all passengers will use the expanded Terminal 2, with Terminal 1 set to close – 63 years after it was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh, in 1962.

Planned improvements to Terminal 2 include doubling the size of the existing departure lounge, with a wider selection of shops and food and drink outlets, the construction of an additional security hall, fitted with next-generation security scanners and a new pier, matching the look and feel of the first pier that opened in 2019.

There will be a new dual taxiway system to improve airfield efficiency, with flexible aircraft stands and the project will more than double the terminal’s hold baggage capacity to over 5,000 bags per hour, with two new teardrop check in islands.

Value

Buro Happold’s multidisciplinary team of experts is delivering joined-up specialist consultancy across everything from facades to structures, civil and geotechnical engineering through to BIM (Building Information Management) modelling and data management. Our insight will provide robust continuity to the project, which is being delivered by a different contractor to the earlier extension phase.

It’s not just about designing facilities, it’s about working with the Manchester Airport client and looking for solutions, finding the right answers to the problems posed, and working in a really dynamic way that delivers what we think is a great product at the end.

James Lord, Engineering / Delivery Director, Manchester Airports Group