Flying into the future

Green infrastructure

Building a new airport is no easy task, especially in such a short period of time.

Li Jianhua, deputy director of the new airport terminal, said that during construction is on standby 24 hours a day and when minor problems occur can get to the scene in 15 minutes to direct corrections.

He has participated in the construction of terminals at four airports, but the 49-year-old said Daxing means the most to him. He has spent more than four years at the site and supervised the rise of the new terminal, a stunning modern architectural achievement.

Reputed to be the world's largest single terminal building, it has 180,000 square meters, equivalent to the size of 25 soccer fields.

"There were no precedents or standards in China before about how to support such a huge structure, and we delved into many ways to tackle the problem," Li said.

"We designed two railways and developed specialized small trains to carry construction materials conveniently. The building materials thus can be delivered to the terminal building efficiently."

Another big challenge faced by the construction team was how to deal with the fragile geological characteristics of Daxing district. Li said a great deal of time was invested to solve problems through experimentation.

One result was that a problematic riverbed with a direct effect on railways was turned into an advantage in the end.

"We finally handled the issue through the use of special structures and equipment," he said.