DEMOLITION of the old airport terminal began in earnest yesterday. Devon-based contractor Gilpin Demolition will work from the inside of the building outwards to minimise any problems with dust.

The building closed on 18 April – the day before its successor became operational.

Project manager for the Public Services Department, BAE Systems’ Phil Nokes, said the interim had been spent stripping out services and making the building safe.

‘We’ve had two weeks of bedding in and things have generally been going very favourably,’ he said.

‘All the nostalgia from Servisair, Flybe and the likes has been stripped from the building, which has been cordoned off with a security fence and signage.’

A 20-tonne demolition-specification excavator, brought from the UK, was transferred from the harbour to the site on a heavy-duty low-loader under police escort.

It began work immediately.

Gilpin has recently carried out demolition works on the £40m. redevelopment of St Austell town centre.

Main contractor Hochtief UK is employing Gilpin on the Guernsey contract and the two companies recently worked together on a project at Paddington Station, London.

Demolition of the old airport terminal is expected to take four to six weeks. Concrete recovered from the demolition will be crushed and used as a foundation for the aircraft apron that will be laid across the disused terminal’s footprint.

‘Construction will be going on well into the autumn on building the new east walkway, the new apron and a new access road,’ said Mr Nokes.

The new east-arm walkway will extend to approximately the centre of the existing freight sheds, of which about half will also be demolished.

The new access road will be built to the south of the existing freight shed access road, cutting through the former fuel farm.

Mr Nokes said materials from the demolition would be recycled wherever possible and the remainder removed from the site.

The excavator was yesterday used to cut through the building’s main entrance. From there it will transfer materials, brought to it by mini-diggers, to skips positioned nearby.

‘We will be keeping the outer shell of the building up as long as we can,’ said Mr Nokes.