Under pressure

Vicky Ye, Project Delivery Manager for Heathrow Airport’s firemain replacement project, explains how the key infrastructure project was delivered – For which it won APM’s Overall Project of the Year Award.

Heathrow’s firemain is a 115km network and the recent replacement project sought to address one point of failure through a number of key works: replacing an existing multiple‑valve chamber and the valves inside; installing a new CCTV inspection chamber and a new multiple‑valve chamber; and relining 250m of 800mm diameter pipework underneath the A30, a main arterial road. This required isolation of the area in focus with comprehensive contingency plans over a crucial eight‑week period.

‘Take a deep breath…’

During the past decade, I have managed a range of different projects, including flood alleviation schemes, motorway improvement projects and airport projects. Heathrow’s firemain replacement project has been the most challenging and the most rewarding project I have worked on. Winning two APM Awards – Engineering, Construction and Infrastructure Project of the Year and Overall Project of the Year – is testament to the hard work that the entire team put into the project.

After five years of working at Heathrow, I thought I knew a thing or two about the airport’s infrastructure. That was until I led the team responsible for implementing the contingency plan required to provide full isolation of the firemain network. I always knew that the firemain system was extensive, but I did not fully appreciate its complexity until I reviewed its 115km‑long network and areas affected by the firemain outage. Addressing the point of failure and understanding the consequences of getting it wrong was my ‘take a deep breath’ moment.

Contingency planning

It was the first time in the airport’s more than 70 years of operation that the firemain had been reviewed in its entirety. It was installed in the 1950s, with its primary purpose being to provide firefighting water to the runways. However, over the years, it has been expanded to cover airfield, terminals, businesses and facilities surrounding the airfield.

A series of comprehensive contingency plans were developed and executed in order to conduct the full isolation of the firemain required by the project. Pulling the support from subject matter experts across the airport’s functions and external organisations was instrumental to the success of the project. It meant coordinating with over 30 internal and external teams and ensuring every single affected building or facility had an appropriate contingency plan in place – and with just an eight‑month timeline it certainly put my project management skills to the test. To give you an idea of the scale of the contingency measures for the project, I worked out that approximately one million litres of water were stored across the airport.

Plugging the gaps

With just eight weeks until the isolation date, it came to my attention that one of the tenants did not have a suitable contingency plan. To develop and execute a contingency plan that had the capability to put out a fire on the largest aircraft in 47 seconds was the biggest challenge for the whole project. However, within a week, five different suppliers worked together to develop, procure and construct the contingency plan required. They bonded quickly through the sense of urgency, and the only thing on their minds was to help Heathrow deliver this critical project, going the extra mile to help each other. For example, when we struggled to secure a fire‑certified pump or an equivalent, everyone used their networks to find what we needed.

The most thrilling moment

Standing on the runway at midnight, just metres away from two fire engines spraying the high‑pressured water into the sky, was the most thrilling moment during the project for me. As part of the contingency plan, Heathrow’s own Airport Fire and Rescue Service needed to check that they could lay a 1,000m firehose in just 10 minutes across two runways and several taxiways with sufficient water pressure and water flow.

However, organising such an exercise in a live operational environment is never simple, especially on the runways for a major international hub like Heathrow. We only had the luxury of a four‑hour window during the night to complete the exercise. Meticulous planning was put in place to ensure the precision of the action and timing. Through clear communication, all the parties involved in the exercise understood what to do and when. Three ‘go/no‑go’ calls were scheduled with six teams on the day to ensure that all the resources required were ready, there were no last‑minute changes to the air traffic, no weather risk and no operational incidents that could prevent the exercise.

At midnight, after the final go/no‑go call, I made a call to initiate the exercise. Within seconds, a fire alarm started in our fire service HQ. I saw our firefighters running down to the fire engines and driving them across the runway with sirens and blue lights on. The speed with which our firefighters responded to the planned fire event, even though it was an exercise, was so impressive. They are such a wonderful bunch, and their professionalism is second to none.

We gave it a go

What made the firemain project so special? In my mind, it was the team’s can‑do attitude during the eight weeks that we isolated the firemain to complete the works. To do so within COVID‑19 constraints as well as space constraints required careful planning. For example, to replace two pipes sitting between the top of the Piccadilly underground train line and a gas pipe, a building information model was used to envision the work activities and sequence.

In addition, Heathrow and its suppliers were delivering the project at a time when workforces were still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic. With the positive attitude and technical support from the engineering team, the project team managed to learn quickly and tackled the challenges successfully. Each time we encountered a new challenge, our response was that we would give it a go.

Expecting the unexpected

Heathrow’s firemain was built 70 years ago and little information or records were available at the outset. The specific area of interest for a replacement lining ran underneath the A30 and it was decided to isolate the firemain for a short period to carry out a CCTV survey. The CCTV identified that there was a metal prop stuck inside the pipe, but with no further information available, removing the prop was a risk. We didn’t know how it was installed and what was stopping it from being flushed away by the 12‑bar water pressure.

To reduce the disruption and to be cost‑effective, it was decided that the removal of the prop would be carried out by a robot during the full isolation for the relining of the pipe work. Removing it could have affected the integrity of the pipe’s structure or damaged the pipe itself, so to mitigate the risks and still meet the timeline, the project team developed six scenarios. Under each scenario, extensive impact assessments were carried out and mitigation plans were identified. While the team was working on the robot cutting plan, plan B was also put in place. If one of the scenarios were to happen, we could deploy plan B immediately without causing delay. For example, procuring long‑lead items and securing the agreement from the local authority to close the A30 if required.

Once the project was given the go‑ahead through governance procedures, the robot was sent in immediately. As it was the first time that Heathrow had used a robot in this way, the whole cutting process was live‑streamed to a large and interested audience.

Effective governance

Due to the potentially significant impact on the airport, two levels of governance were employed: one for the decisions impacting the overall airport, the other for the functions or department concerned. The final decision for the project to go ahead was with the Chief Operations Officer, who delegated her power to a forum called Heathrow Airport Ltd Assurance and Review Panel (HALARP). To facilitate the firemain project, instead of the normal monthly meeting, HALARP was held ad hoc as the project required. All the panellists were empowered to voice any concerns, share their views and provide advice on the project. A typical project is presented to HALARP just once, but the firemain project went to HALARP five times to provide assurance and confidence.

Numerous go/no‑go calls were set up at both the organisational level and project level. For example, to allow the full isolation to start, I chaired the go/no‑go call with over 30 people confirming each of the listed actions, one by one, on their completion. For the isolation itself, I had a go/no‑go meeting confirming that the project team was ready to take over the firemain; that the operations team had resources to isolate the system; and that there were no operational issues across the airport that could prevent the isolation.

Securing buy‑in

The success of the project relied heavily on third parties to implement their contingency plans and secure endorsement through collaboration and influence. Bringing over 30 people across functions and organisations on board to explain how critical it was to implement the project was a key objective. The support I received was overwhelming. I remember several of them saying to me, “Vicky, I know how challenging this project will be; you will have all my support.” Another thing I noticed while leading the contingency plans is the strong sense of solidarity. In common with Heathrow Airport, our suppliers and external stakeholders had been devastated by the COVID‑19 pandemic. After explaining what was required, everyone was so helpful and supportive.

Where would we be without our wonderful sponsor?

The key to unlocking this challenge was to have great support from the project’s sponsor. My sponsor was very knowledgeable and passionate about this project and had great influence on stakeholders. Any fire event during the firemain outage could have been extremely damaging to safety, confidence and reputation. A strong sponsor was a champion for the project at an executive level and aided the effective decisions that were the key to our success.

 

THIS ARTICLE IS BROUGHT TO YOU FROM THE SPRING 2023 ISSUE OF PROJECT JOURNAL, WHICH IS FREE FOR APM MEMBERS.