London Stansted has confirmed Farrans as its partner for the construction of the airport’s new skylink walkways.

The new skylinks are a key part of the airport’s transformation programme, creating new walkways to directly connect the terminal to existing satellite buildings that are home to the departure and arrival gates.

Their construction will enable Stansted’s track transit people mover system to be decommissioned, creating the space for the terminal building to be extended towards the airfield in later phases of the transformation work.

The programme features a three-bay extension to the existing terminal, adding 16,500m2 of space, which airport bosses will make Stanstead the biggest single terminal airport in Europe.

Work will begin later this summer with pre-assembly of skylink sections taking place offsite in a vacant airport hangar on the northside of the airfield.

Farrans says this method of construction will save time, and by reducing working at height, creates a safer working environment, as well as reducing congestion in busy airport operational areas

Once each section is completed, they will be transported overnight from the construction hangar across the airfield on self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) to minimise disruption to the airport’s operation.

Glenn Gilmore, regional director at Farrans, said: “Passengers arriving to London Stansted will already be able to see that we are mobilising our site in preparation for main works to begin during this exciting period of transformation for the airport.

“Construction in aviation environments comes with many unique challenges including making sure that our clients’ business operations can continue 24/7 with minimal disruption every day. We are specialists in managing these tricky interfaces with our extensive experience on site at numerous other UK airports.”