Championing sustainable aviation infrastructure at Perth Airport

Perth Airport is undergoing significant transformation, consolidating all commercial air services into a central precinct to streamline operations, improve passenger experience, and reduce long-term costs.

Key infrastructure upgrades, including the expansion of the Terminal 2 apron and the development of the Aviation Support Precinct, are critical to accommodating increasing demand — particularly from regional and resource sector charter operations.

Perth Airport is committed to incorporating practical sustainability initiatives into planning, procurement, construction and operation of infrastructure assets across the estate.

Perth Airport adopted the IS Essentials Rating Tool, developed by the Infrastructure Sustainability Council. This provides a practical and structured approach to embedding sustainability across the project lifecycle. GHD was selected to lead the project design and oversee compliance with the IS Essentials Design Rating framework, in partnership with West Coast Civil, responsible for construction.

Central to this approach was the development of a comprehensive Resource Efficiency Strategy (RES), aligned with key IS Essentials credits aimed at improving materials, water and energy use during design and construction. These included:

• Rso-1: Resource Strategy
  Focused on developing a site-wide strategy to reduce consumption of materials, energy, and water, while setting improvement targets.
• Rso-4: Resource Recovery and Management
  Encouraged the use of reused or recycled materials to reduce reliance on virgin resources and lower embodied carbon.
• Rso-6: Material Lifecycle Impact Measurement and Management
  Addressed the broader environmental impact of materials through more sustainable selection practices and measures the impact of materials across the entire asset lifecycle.

These efforts were underpinned by a multi-criteria assessment (MCA) and Rapid Cost Benefit Analysis, forming part of the Ecn-1 Options Assessment credit requirements. This process supported practical decision making with measurable outcomes, including:

• Reusing surplus fill from within the airport estate to avoid importing material from offsite.
• Retaining lower pavement layers to minimise demolition and reduce material and energy consumption.
• Using recycled crumbed rubber in blast pavements as a substitute for virgin asphalt.

These decisions are projected to reduce embodied carbon emissions by 15% (equivalent to 820 tonnes of CO₂e) compared to business-as-usual practices.

In response to Wat-1 Avoiding Water Use and Wat-2 Appropriate Use of Water Sources credits, the project adopted a mix of alternative water sources to significantly reduce reliance on potable water. By using estate drainage, and dewatering water for dust suppression and compaction, the project is expected to avoid the use of approximately 57,010 kL of potable water.

Under the Ene-1 Energy Efficiency and Ene-2 Renewable Energy credits, robust energy and carbon modelling guided design and construction choices. Notably, the use of solar power to run site offices will avoid the use of 137,500 litres of diesel, while motion-sensor lighting in the gatehouse is expected to further reduce operational energy use — reinforcing the project's strong commitment to energy performance

In response to increasing climate risks, the project also took a forward-looking approach under the Res-1 credit. Historical climate data and future climate projections were reviewed to assess risks to infrastructure resilience through to 2090. Targeted design interventions were implemented to address high-risk scenarios, embedding long-term durability and operational continuity into the asset's future.

The successful application of the IS Essentials Rating Tool has positioned Perth Airport at the forefront of sustainable airport development in Australia, with the GHD team playing a pivotal role in embedding sustainability and resource efficiency into procurement and delivery processes. By integrating these principles into contractual obligations, the project not only delivered strong environmental outcomes but also significantly uplifted the capability of Perth Airport’s construction contractor.