The Design Solution wins retail planning role at Istanbul’s new airport

“Istanbul itself provides a unique inspiration for how an authentic sense of place can be delivered, ensuring that every passenger enjoys the retail space to the full and also that they feel intrinsically connected to the city at the bridge of Asia and Europe.“

Robbie Gill Managing Director The Design Solution

TURKEY. İGA Havalimanı İşletmesi A.Ş. (IGA) has appointed London-based The Design Solution to carry out the retail planning for Istanbul’s new airport, scheduled to be the world’s largest airport under a single roof, which is due to open in 2018.

The €10.2 billion airport, located in the Amavutköv district 35 km northwest of Istanbul, will replace Atatürk Airport as Turkey’s major gateway and will have a capacity of 90 million passengers per year on opening, developing an ultimate capacity of more than 150 million passengers.

According to IGA, the airport “will set new standards in operational and service quality, and will set a new benchmark for travel retail”. The airport has a gross floor area of over one million sq. m, with around 53,000 sq m of retail footprint.

Earlier this year Unifree Duty Free – in which Gebr Heinemann has a majority stake – secured a 25-year contract to operate all of the international airside retail space. The Design Solution will be working closely with retail and supply partners to develop the optimum overall commercial plan.

The Design Solution Managing Director Robbie Gill said: “It is both challenging and humbling to be working with the biggest new airport on the planet – a gateway to one of the world’s greatest cities. We are immensely proud to have been selected to support IGA’s astonishing vision where we can apply our extensive global experience to the project including, most recently, the commercial planning of the new Midfield Terminal at Abu Dhabi, but the scale of Istanbul’s new airport adds an extraordinary new dimension to the challenge.

“IGA have a clear focus on creating what they describe as “˜the world’s best shopping environment in worldwide travel retail’, ranging from a new interpretation of contemporary luxury to a traditional bazaar concept, and we look forward to being part of delivering this unique and authentic vision.

“Istanbul itself provides a unique inspiration for how an authentic sense of place can be delivered, ensuring that every passenger enjoys the retail space to the full and also that they feel intrinsically connected to the city at the bridge of Asia and Europe.”

Construction on the first of the four phases of the project began on 1 May 2015 and includes a huge earthworks programme to provide a platform for the infrastructure development. Ultimately the new airport, with an area of 76 square km, will accommodate six runways and, when it opens (2018), the current airport will then be closed.

The Design Solution brings considerable experience from the greater MEA region through a portfolio of other major airport projects, including projects at Muscat, Doha, Mumbai, Delhi, Malta, Salalah, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Antalya.