Its also interesting that the bloomberg article states:
establish the U.K.’s first facility for clearing U.S. customs before boarding.
We know implimenting US PBC at LHR is going to be a logistical challenge, so, will naturally take longer, so, if true, is quite a coup for MAN to be the first pre clearance centre in the UK.
The first stage in the re-build, ready by 2018, will be a new pier at the far end of T2. I wonder if this will be where the US PBC will be, as all the US carriers and flights can be shifted up there, freeing up space at T1/T3 to start work in those areas. The pier could then be used for regular traffic once all the pre-cleared flight have gone.