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Click on image to enlarge
The Jean-Luc Lagardère plant, final assembly and test site for the AIRBUS A380
at Toulouse-Blagnac (31)

The project
The AIRBUS A380 final assembly line and ground test site, located on the Toulouse-Blagnac site (31), is an industrial unit of 200,000 m² of buildings, that is to say around ten buildings of 100 m in length and 32 m high, to which are associated:
- 20 hectares of outdoor aeroplane tarmac, served by taxiways that also ensure access to the airport
- An energy and fluid production plant, connected to the buildings by technical galleries
- A fuel station
- Offices, company restaurants, a congress centre and associated services.

The site, with a total surface area of more than 200 hectares, has been pre-fitted by the Aéroconstellation mixed development zone.

For AIRBUS the project represents an investment of €427M excluding VAT.

The client AIRBUS FRANCE - EADS
 
Prime contractor   Technip TPS, Contractor and general engineering, with the support of the Technip Group
ADPi, Architect and structural engineering
CARDETE & HUET, Architects
 
The assignments of Technip TPS
Project management:
- Planning and general co-ordination of the project.
- General budget and cost control of the project.
- Progress and deadline control of the project.
- Information management.

General contracting:
- Integration, process / buildings.
- Definition of the master plan.
- General pre-project.
- Administrative files: Building permit, licensing, and water law.
- Development of the operational budget.
 		 Contracting specific to 80 % of sub-projects:
- Bids for tender by companies.
- Approval of execution studies of companies and management of summary studies.
- Management and reception of works, achieving of reserve lifting performances.

Technical and architectural supervision of indirectly designed subprojects:
- General technical and architectural specifications.
- Supervision of people and companies involved.
- ATC for the energy production plant and the fuel station concession.
 
Remarkable aspects of the project

This project is out of the ordinary for several reasons: obviously its size, but also its technical complexity as well as the very short production deadlines.

In fact, the A380 is a new concept of aeroplane, not only larger, higher and heavier than its predecessors, but also integrating innovative equipment: flight deck, on-board electrical systems, landing gear, and composite materials…

The commitments of AIRBUS concerning the delivery of the A380 to client airline companies has led it to define extremely short execution deadlines for all of the buildings and infrastructures associated with this new programme.

In particular, it has become indispensable to proceed with an initial design phase simultaneously with that of the plane itself, the assembly and test tools, and the buildings and infrastructures that will house them, with all the effects that this could have, notably on the site master plan.

To meet this challenge, AIRBUS and Technip TPS – ADPi – Cardete & Huet put in place a combined project team on the same site. This organization enabled the design, construction, and delivery to users of all of the works in just over three years, from the spring of 2001 to spring 2004.

Such performance was also made possible by the adopting of particularly efficient production methods, in particular the hoisting of framework assembled and pre-fitted on the ground.
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