WIP at LHR - for the next 5 years!

[ETOPS]

Just as the construction of T5 is coming to an end, the guys in hard hats get another project to keep them busy.

Planning permission for a £1.5 billion "environmentally sensitive" redevelopment of the UK's biggest airport was granted today.

The go-ahead for a new terminal at Heathrow airport in west London was given by London Mayor Ken Livingstone and Hillingdon Council.

The new terminal, called Heathrow East, will replace the existing Terminals 1 and 2, with the first phase of the work expected to be completed in time for the London Olympics in 2012.

Airport operator BAA today boasted of the "green" credentials of the new terminal and said the planning go-ahead was "great news for passengers".

Mr Livingstone said all the parties had agreed on a scheme "that puts energy efficiency and renewables at the heart of plans for a new Heathrow terminal".

Heathrow East is part of a £6.2 billion, 10-year investment programme to transform Heathrow.

This includes the opening of Terminal 5 in March 2008, a refurbishment of Terminal 4 and the eventual demolition of Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.

BAA chief executive Tony Douglas said today: "I'm delighted that we've got the green light for Heathrow East. This is great news for passengers. By June 2012, most of our passengers will be travelling through terminal facilities that aren't even open today and we will have either re-built or redeveloped all our other terminals.

"Heathrow will be like a new airport for London."

Mr Livingstone said: "I'm very pleased we've been able to agree a plan that puts energy efficiency and renewables at the heart of plans for a new Heathrow terminal, and that we've secured a commitment to address the energy demand of the airport as a whole.

"The challenges associated with climate change will define how our city develops in the coming decades and, as the gateway between our city and the world, it is right that Heathrow airport leads the way in meeting those challenges."

[GT3]

I started at LHR in 99 and there has been WIP all the time I have been there so its nothing new!

[kms901]

"Heathrow. the only building site with its own airport!"

[whoop.whoop]

Try find an airport that has no construction.

[Golf Charlie Charlie]

I've been using Heathrow for over 30 years as a passenger and doubt there's ever been a time without some construction somewhere. I think it's in the nature of airports, as already pointed out. Other airports around the world are similar.

[Three Yellows]

"Heathrow. the only building site with its own airport!"

Funny, as a regular user of LHR, I always thought that it was a shopping centre with it's own runway?

[akerosid]

R3?

And by the time the new LHR East is open, there will probably be extensions to T5 and of course, the third runway will probably be under construction, so it's hard to see a time when there's not going to be construction of some sort!

[Gonzo]

I always thought that it was a building site with its own shopping centre!

[A Very Civil Pilot]

Try find an airport that has no construction

How about BCN. OK it's got lots of unfinished buildings, but I've never seen any actual consrtruction going on!

[teleport]

What would the best improvement to the LHR passenger experience?
Minimum time getting in and out, I venture? All the way from getting there, security, leaving gates on time, minimum taxi & getting airborne to the reverse sequence for LHR arrival. What has the CAA possibly got in mind?

[120.4]

Teleport

That is a darn good question! Notwithstanding the fact that NATS manages the London airspace, the 2003 Air Transport White Paper put the responsibility for introducing ATC advances that would facilitate Heathrow & Stansted's expansion firmly in the lap of the CAA. NATS has been doing the work but the CAA has show an unwillingness to shift away from ICAO, which unfortunately is decades behind modern techniques.

.4

[memyself]

I use Heathrow all the time for one reason or another.

I also have many friends who are either designers or Architects. I would tell you what they think of Heathrow particularly T1/2/4 but I'd probably get banned from this forum.

Let's be honest if you travel through any of the major world's airports such as Sydney, San Francisco etc, etc then Heathrow is like a third world airport. (although some of these are better too) Before I even start about the state of the decor - just look at the carpets, grey, worn and full or gum, and that's the first thing that greets passengers. Oppressive low ceilings, poor lighting, overcroweded. It's more like a series of pooly designed underpasses from a pooly designed 70's city than an airport.

London really does deserve a better airport and the truth is that if it doesn't get one pasengers and airlines will elsewhere.

And it can be done ! look at Gatwick, not perfect, but a great airport.

[Three Yellows]

I use Heathrow all the time for one reason or another

Surely the only reason (for pax) to go LHR is to catch a flight

[andrijander]

Perhaps he goes there for the shopping...

[teleport]

Surely the only reason (for pax) to go LHR is to catch a flight

That is exactly the big conumdrum. Pax wants to get in and out as quickly as possible. BAA has got quite different designs.

[DickyPearse]

Let's be honest if you travel through any of the major world's airports such as Sydney, San Francisco etc,

Sydney? You have to be kidding. Sydney is a very average airport and the ground staff are hopeless - if you sight your bags within 30 mins of your exit from the aircraft, don't buy lotto that week because your luck is well and truely used up.