Airbus Wing Integration Centre project - Filton nr. Bristol

The £40m facility will enable Airbus to perform structural tests on aircraft materials, components and large assemblies, including complete wings. The strong floor will support a 220-tonne, 10m-high steel wall where structural tests specimens will be attached to allow testing to take place.

The pour itself lasted a continuous 23-hour period, one hour under the scheduled 24. It required a lorry load of specially prepared concrete to arrive every six minutes to provide a constant supply to the pour and avoid any inconsistencies in the concrete.

A total of 1,440 cubic metres was poured into the floor, which measures 40m by 18m, to a total depth of two metres. The steel reinforcement amounted to a total of approximately 280 tonnes of rebar, estimated to be around 54 km laid end-to-end.

The AWIC facility is supported by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Innovate UK.