BRITISH specialist consultant TPS has started work on a new development at Muscat International Airport in Oman, which will include an iconic air traffic control (ATC) tower, an air transport management complex, a contingency and training centre, plus fire and sea rescue facilities.

The project, which includes 11 new buildings along with associated external works, has been procured under a design-and-build contract and is part of a wider redevelopment scheduled for completion in 2014, which will allow the airport to handle 12 million visitors per year.

TPS is developing the multi-disciplinary design for this project for the contractor, appointed on the basis of design intent prepared by the Cowi-Larsen joint venture on behalf of the Ministry for Transport and Communication and Muscat International Airport.

“Standing at just less than 100 m in height, it will be the tallest occupied building in the country’s capital, Muscat, when it opens,” says a spokesman for TPS.

The slenderness of the structure subjected to variable wind forces will cause it to sway. TPS, the principal consultant to the project, is carrying out all the architectural design and, for the ATC tower, has brought in Mott Macdonald and RWDI as part of the team to analyse its structural characteristics, and also to re-evaluate the wind tunnel test data that was previously undertaken. This is to enable detailed design for all the structural elements and also determine the optimum performance parameters for a suitable damping mechanism.

Working with the Oman-based construction company Carillion Alawi, TPS and its sub-consultants are overseeing its design being implemented during the construction process, which will include the installation of a tuned mass damper, or a suitable alternative, to harmonise the predicted oscillations with the structure’s natural frequency, allowing the air traffic controllers to work normally at this height.