Design of Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport

Stupido

On way back from the rugby last weekend and saw that Terminal 2 is taking shape.

What do people think of the design?

Is it big enough for the airport or will it just lead to more confusion?

thoughts?

Davy

It certainly looks big enough in comparison to the old one. In sayign that, there was talk in the media a few weeks ago that's its to big, and with the slow down we wont need it. Although airport traffic was up this year to 23.5 million.

1huge1

Meh better too big than too small. Would be a 1st for this country.

Lennoxschips

Certainly wouldn't be the first time. Have you seen the Suir Bridge?

1huge1

Lennoxschips wrote: »

Certainly wouldn't be the first time. Have you seen the Suir Bridge?

Hadn't heard of till a quick google search just there.

BluntGuy

Lennoxschips wrote: »

Certainly wouldn't be the first time. Have you seen the Suir Bridge?

Not to de-rail this thread, but single-carriageway would not suffice for the Waterford City Bypass bridge.

As for T2, yes, it is taking shape, and although air travel will decrease in the short term, in the long-term it will most likely increase once we "come out" of this recession (whether the current ultra-right model of capitalism is still in practise or not). Better to have extra capacity methinks.

Bluehair

Was speaking to a couple of Duty Managers who have revealed that from launch it's likely that a large majority of those checking in in the new terminal will then have to transfer through the tunnel back over to the old terminal for boarding via Area B or, God forbid, area D.

Lateral thinking how are you? :rolleyes:

Irish and Proud

Bluehair wrote: »

Was speaking to a couple of Duty Managers who have revealed that from launch it's likely that a large majority of those checking in in the new terminal will then have to transfer through the tunnel back over to the old terminal for boarding via Area B or, God forbid, area D.

Lateral thinking how are you? :rolleyes:

Some people are saying that T2 is too big, as passenger numbers are going to decline. If that is the case, it's obviously too late to do anything about T2 and Pier E. Now let's cut our losses and utilise T2 to the full and close Pier B - now an old and obsolete 1970's node model - I wikied the new terminals for Heathrow and grid style layouts for the aircraft (Terminal 5, Heathrow East, Terminal 6 etc) now seem the in-thing. Back to Dublin, the opening of Pier E will (by its very nature and location) render Pier C defunct. In short, let T2 and Pier E do the current job that Pier B and Pier C is doing. Let T1 take care of Pier A (no air bridges which will suit Ryanair) and Pier D (which should have air bridges and no Ryanair). Now to get to your point, the only ultra long distances that passengers should have to walk then, are those in direct transfer from Pier A / Pier D (maybe from a short Ryanair flight) to Pier E (possibly a flight onwards to New York).

Of course, we'll just have to wait and see what actually happens! :rolleyes:

Regards!

alentejo

Pier B is the best of all the piers in Dublin Airport

D.L.R.

bump. any news/pics/updates from T2? Been v quiet since xmas.

Stupido

some chit-chat on newstalk says that the contract to operate is due to be awarded in the next year, and the DAA are concerned they might not get it. Hence the announced job losses and the suspension of the extension to Pier D.

The suggestion is that they are trying to get their house in order in time for the bidding process.

Bluetonic

Stupido wrote: »

some chit-chat on newstalk says that the contract to operate is due to be awarded in the next year, and the DAA are concerned they might not get it. Hence the announced job losses and the suspension of the extension to Pier D.

Who exactly was peddling this chit chat?

What extension to Pier D? No planning permission has ever been requested from FCC.

Anyhow here's a bit of an update.

Massive bridges leave Ross – with difficulty





By Elaine FURLONG

Wednesday May 13 2009

THE LARGEST ever structure to be constructed in New Ross and transported by road from the town left Paddy Wall and Sons on Friday evening, destined for Dublin Airport.

However, the transit of these two massive bridges to connect two buildings in the new terminal in Dublin Airport was not without its problems.

The two connecting bridges were loaded onto 95-foot-long low loaders on Friday afternoon and scheduled to leave the Raheen premises at 8 p.m.

The sheer scale of the vehicles and their loads caused major difficulties trying to leave Paddy Wall and Sons in Raheen, New Ross. In an attempt to exit the premises, some trees had to be cut down and part of the fencing had to be removed.

The newly constructed roundabout at O'Hanrahan Bridge posed the next problem as the signage had to be removed and sticks and skids were used to allow the specialist lorry to travel over the central island of the roundabout.

Gardaí were on hand to assist with traffic management as lengthy tailbacks were experienced in every direction approaching the Quays.

' We had major fun and games at the bridge,' said Liam Wall, Director of Paddy Wall and Sons.

The consignment arrived in Dublin eight hours later at 4 a. m. and erectors worked through into the very early hours of the morning to put the bridges in place in the new Pier E building to connect two buildings in the new terminal two in Dublin Airport.

The two bridges that have been installed formed part of a € 10 million project that Paddy Wall and Sons are currently engaged in with the Dublin Airport Authority.

The Raheen based company have been working on the project since last August.

- Elaine FURLONG

Source

Stupido

business editor I think, reporting on DAA restructuring plans

dmeehan

Irish and Proud wrote: »

Some people are saying that T2 is too big, as passenger numbers are going to decline. If that is the case, it's obviously too late to do anything about T2 and Pier E. Now let's cut our losses and utilise T2 to the full and close Pier B - now an old and obsolete 1970's node model - I wikied the new terminals for Heathrow and grid style layouts for the aircraft (Terminal 5, Heathrow East, Terminal 6 etc) now seem the in-thing. Back to Dublin, the opening of Pier E will (by its very nature and location) render Pier C defunct. In short, let T2 and Pier E do the current job that Pier B and Pier C is doing. Let T1 take care of Pier A (no air bridges which will suit Ryanair) and Pier D (which should have air bridges and no Ryanair). Now to get to your point, the only ultra long distances that passengers should have to walk then, are those in direct transfer from Pier A / Pier D (maybe from a short Ryanair flight) to Pier E (possibly a flight onwards to New York).

Of course, we'll just have to wait and see what actually happens! :rolleyes:

Regards!

Where is Pier E going?? anyone have a link?

Bluetonic

It's the new pier at the rear of T2

spacetweek

Defo T2 is needed and no, it isn't too big.

Not sure which existing piers could be removed. Can someone clarify why Pier C will be rendered defunct by T2? I'm not seeing it.

Pier D is not being extended and there has never been a plan to do this.

zagmund

Any chance they might re-designate the terminal, pier, area and all other numbers while they're at it ?

It seems that DAA is more interested in inventing complicated (to the occasional traveller) naming structures than in making the airport easy to navigate. Does anyone know where areas 1 to 13 went to ? Was there a really, really, really good customer focused reason for designating a new check-in area as Area 14 ?

Given the lack of a public 'terminal 1' designation for the existing main building, it would have made sense (to me at least) to name the first terminal building that you meet on the approach road as Terminal 1 and the second one as Terminal 2. I know it's not essential if people read all the appropriate signage, but it sure makes things easier for people who are trying to work out which lane to get into. Sure, Heathrow doesn't do a good job of it, but I don't think anyone is holding Heathrow out as a great airport design. Schiphol, now that's a different story.

As a matter of interest have a look here - http://www.dublinairport.com/at-airport/airport-maps/departures.html - how many errors can you spot ? Can you even work out where that is a map of ? There are direction signs off to Piers A, B & C, but Pier C doesn't seem to exist any more. No indication of check-in desks either mind you.

Anyhoo, I'm going off track a little here. Back to the original question - any chance they are going to re-designate the numbering system to make it easier to navigate ? And don't tell me that the direction signage is perfect so there's no benefit in renumbering. They made a fair stab at getting the long term car park zones in order.

z

Winters

The DAA do actually have plans to extend Pier D. 'Project DX' went through several tenders but I believe it is on hold at the moment. The irony is that by removing the prefabs at the end of Pier D they would actually lose the existihg number of stands. Thats one of the reasons why the prefabs are still there and also the reason for the Pier D extension. There are 7 options or varients at the moment giving between 4 and 8 extra stands.

The architects are D5 Architects.

dmeehan

zagmund wrote: »

There are direction signs off to Piers A, B & C, but Pier C doesn't seem to exist any more.

http://www.dublinairport.com/at-airport/airport-maps/pier-c.html

its still there, the link is mysteriously hidden for some reason??? :rolleyes:

Bluetonic

spacetweek wrote: »

Pier D is not being extended and there has never been a plan to do this.

Of course there is, the end of pier d was designed with the extension in mind. They just haven't applied for any planning permission for it yet.

Bluetonic

Winters wrote: »

Thats one of the reasons why the prefabs are still there and also the reason for the Pier D extension.

The prefabs will be gone once E opens, the extension or lack of it won't be reason for keeping the prefabs.

I presume the pier B extension (2011) is on hold in the current environment.

KC61

spacetweek wrote: »

Defo T2 is needed and no, it isn't too big.

Not sure which existing piers could be removed. Can someone clarify why Pier C will be rendered defunct by T2? I'm not seeing it.

Pier D is not being extended and there has never been a plan to do this.

Pier C is already closed except for the gates (I think there are 4) downstairs that allow access to buses to remote stands.

With the advent of T2, there would be insufficient push-back room for aircraft to operate from piers C at the same time as from pier B and from T2.

The link below shows this a bit more clearly.

http://www.dublinairportauthority.com/images/aerial_view_1.jpg

afatbollix

going by that picture it looks like this pier can only take 10 planes at a time?? that cant be right?

Bluetonic

afatbollix wrote: »

going by that picture it looks like this pier can only take 10 planes at a time?? that cant be right?

It depends what type of planes are on the stand, there is of course many different types of configurations. There will be 19 air bridges in total.

Dingatron

i had a quick tour of T2 last week. Here's a few pictures for those interested.



T2 side view



View from mezz



Pier E side view



Pier E inside view



Pier E from roof of T2



T2 energy centre from roof of T2

darkman2

Thanks for the pics!:)

Doodoo

Here's some recent photos if your interested of the new road to terminal 1 which goes ander the link bridge that links the check-in to the baggage hall in the new terminal 2

Doodoo

Here's some more photos but this time of the check-in

davebuck

Nice photos thanks for sharing

Mill21

Ye clearly don't actually know the airport very well. I work there, and yes its definitely needed!! Many people how fly out early in the morning esp at weekends should agree with me there - (and say it all the time).
I don't know the in's and out's of how it'll all work exactly yet, so I don't know how ye think ye know.

Btw As for pier C signs disappearing, its not used much now much to T2. Only the odd flight goes from down there. As far as I know I think It'll be closed completely to make some sort of access way from T1 to T2 (I think anyway)

Irish and Proud wrote: »

Now let's cut our losses and utilise T2 to the full and close Pier B - now an old and obsolete 1970's node model

Actually I've really found Pier B a problem.

Anyway I think T2 is looking good so far. Just wait and see before speculating!

Stevek101

New style signs are up in Gate C now... Strange.

Mill21

Stevek101 wrote: »

New style signs are up in Gate C now... Strange.

Yeah, haven't been down there in a while but those new signs are going up all over the airport

Stevek101

They only went up in the last day or two. I still find it really weird they put them up there, as you said they hardly use the section now! As far as I can remember the gate numbers even went up to the ones that don't exist anymore!

Oh and I meant to say there is a new website on the way. Some was giving out about the maps on the site a while back. They are really going to be pushing "The Loop" (their rebranded shopping section).

darkman2

You mean they are changing dublinairport.com?

Is'nt Pier C going to be an integral connection between the two terminals though?

Stevek101

Yep, dublinairport.com. It was suppose to be introduced along with "The Loop" from what I gathered but I know for sure that it is well under way.

I've heard two things. The first being what you said, that Pier C will be the connection. I also heard there'd be direct connection from E to B which makes no sense to me! Why bother when C is attached to T2!

JupiterKid

It was a scandalous waste of money building Pier C in 1999/2000 only to have it out of commission within 8 years to make way for T2.:mad::(

Very, very poor foresight on the part of DAA.

Stevek101

Just look at T1X! The whole entrance has been changed and that's only been open a few months. What about the smoke machine too...

markpb

JupiterKid wrote: »

It was a scandalous waste of money building Pier C in 1999/2000 only to have it out of commission within 8 years to make way for T2.:mad::(

Very, very poor foresight on the part of DAA.

I agree it was wasteful but I suspect Bertie's dithering for over a decade about whether or not (and indeed where) T2 would be built caused a lot of confusion in DAA and stopped them making any serious long term plans.

spacetweek

JupiterKid wrote: »

It was a scandalous waste of money building Pier C in 1999/2000 only to have it out of commission within 8 years to make way for T2.:mad::(

Very, very poor foresight on the part of DAA.

They had to do something though. And Pier C is cheap and nasty. Not so much money wasted really.

D'Peoples Voice

dmeehan wrote: »

http://www.dublinairport.com/at-airport/airport-maps/pier-c.html

its still there, the link is mysteriously hidden for some reason??? :rolleyes:

How do I get to Pier D from the Departures Area?


I'm sure someone said thats where my Ryanair flight to the UK departs from.

KC61

Follow the same route as Pier A and it branches off to the right as you take your long walk.....

ardmacha

There is a strong case for renumbering the gates in Terminal 1 when Terminal 2 opens, so that C is beside D and so on.

KC61

ardmacha wrote: »

There is a strong case for renumbering the gates in Terminal 1 when Terminal 2 opens, so that C is beside D and so on.

Why confuse people more? Regular passengers know exactly where A, B, C and D are already!

Changing pier identities around would only add to the confusion!

zagmund

So that irregular passengers don't go off on a mad one and think that B is to be found between A & C and that D is to be found after C.

z

Bluetonic

zagmund wrote: »

So that irregular passengers don't go off on a mad one and think that B is to be found between A & C and that D is to be found after C.

z

It already is.

Anyhow it's grand the way it is -> A (anticlockwise) B (anticlockwise) C (anticlockwise) D.

Alun

zagmund wrote: »

So that irregular passengers don't go off on a mad one and think that B is to be found between A & C and that D is to be found after C.

That's why they have signs. They can call them Z, Q, P and K for all I care as long as the signage is correct.

Mill21

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

How do I get to Pier D from the Departures Area?


I'm sure someone said thats where my Ryanair flight to the UK departs from.

Pretty simple. After you go through security go right along the street (shopping area). It then splits into A and D. Stay right again for Pier D. It's very clearly sign posted.
Just don't go down to A and you'll have no problems.

And all Ryanair flights go from down there. They like it (as much as they like anything) because they use the stairs and don't have to pay for airbridges

Mill21

Stevek101 wrote: »

Just look at T1X! The whole entrance has been changed and that's only been open a few months. What about the smoke machine too...

What smoke machine?

zagmund

What I still don't get is where that diagram actually represents . . .

What's with the lego blocks in the middle of the picture ? What are they ?

I guess land-side is at the bottom of the picture, but I can't relate that to the two different security check areas in Dublin airport.

All I'm saying above is that if you have the piers in order then it becomes relatively simple to navigate your way around. If you start off at A, you're looking for B and you've got to C then you've gone too far. And that's without having to refer to any diagrams or signs other than the one you checked at the start that showed you they were in order.

Don't forget that a large number of people coming through the airport are visitors and are by definition not regular visitors to the airport. They are not in a position to get familiar with the intricacies of the layout. A simple A-B-C-D in order layout can only help.

z

Alun

zagmund wrote: »

Don't forget that a large number of people coming through the airport are visitors and are by definition not regular visitors to the airport. They are not in a position to get familiar with the intricacies of the layout. A simple A-B-C-D in order layout can only help.

I would have thought that the very first thing anyone with half a brain who was unfamiliar with where to go in an airport, or any large building for that matter, would do would be to look for signs. There doesn't have to be any underlying logic to it in that case.

KC61

zagmund wrote: »

What I still don't get is where that diagram actually represents . . .

What's with the lego blocks in the middle of the picture ? What are they ?

I guess land-side is at the bottom of the picture, but I can't relate that to the two different security check areas in Dublin airport.

All I'm saying above is that if you have the piers in order then it becomes relatively simple to navigate your way around. If you start off at A, you're looking for B and you've got to C then you've gone too far. And that's without having to refer to any diagrams or signs other than the one you checked at the start that showed you they were in order.

Don't forget that a large number of people coming through the airport are visitors and are by definition not regular visitors to the airport. They are not in a position to get familiar with the intricacies of the layout. A simple A-B-C-D in order layout can only help.

z

The "lego blocks" are the check-in desks.

The security areas are the two areas with the upside down "L Shapes" to the top left and top right of the picture.

I still think you would annoy more people than not by changing pier identities.