Infrastructure, Construction & Developments

[Aviador]

[textarea]Images of new Heathrow terminal released

BAA has released the first images of the planned new £1?billion Terminal 2 at Heathrow. The computer generated pictures show the glass-fronted building, that will increase the terminal's capacity by 11.5?million to around 20 million passengers each year. Plans to call the whole scheme Heathrow East had been dropped, though it could not say what the building would eventually be called.

The first phase of the new £1 billion terminal is due to be finished in 2013, and the second part, due by 2019, will extend the new terminal into the existing Terminal 1 site and increase total capacity to around 30?million passengers a year. Initial designs for the new terminal were devised by Foster + Partners and were developed further by HETCo.

BAA says the terminal will be environmentally friendly and use ‘renewable’ materials. The structure — which will house Star Alliance network airlines, including United Airlines, BMI and Lufthansa — will produce 40 percent less carbon than the buildings it is replacing.

The roof has large windows intended to reduce the need for artificial lighting without generating too much heat. There will also be solar panels on the roof, while heating and cooling for the terminal will be produced by an energy centre partly fuelled by renewable resources.

The expansion of Terminal 2 is part of BAA’s £4.8 billion Heathrow investment program to provide new facilities and better service. Mike Brown, Heathrow's chief operating officer, said the plans underlined the airport's position at the heart of international travel and the global economy.

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[Aviador]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

[textarea]Millions to be invested into Heathrow Airport

Passengers travelling from Heathrow Airport are set to benefit from millions of pounds that will be invested into the travel hub.

BAA has announced that it plans to inject £500 million into its London Airports Group.

More than half of the money will be invested now and the rest is set to be released in January 2010.

This comes after BAA sold Gatwick Airport earlier this month following a report from the Competition Commission.

BAA will provide the majority of the cash while shareholders are expected to fork out £200 million.

In addition to improving services at Heathrow, BAA plans to pay off its debts and strengthen the group.

This follows the announcement by the Department for Transport last month that it would strengthen the financial resilience of major UK airports.

BAA currently owns seven UK airports, Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Last month, there was an overall improvement of the group's traffic figures.

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[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

Doesn't say what the improvements will be. They've also left Southamptom off the list of seven BAA airports.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

[textarea]Heathrow runway application could take 4 years

The man charged by BAA with getting Heathrow Airport's third runway approved said yesterday its planning application for the £8 billion project could take up to four years to approve. Mike Forster told Reuters on the sidelines of the Global Airport Development 2009 conference in Berlin ‘Nobody knows what the new [major projects planning approval] process they have introduced really looks like.'

BAA is looking at the new planning application structure that was introduced in October and intends to make its submission after the UK general election, Mr Forster said, adding: ‘The delay will benefit some parties.' The Conservatives, widely expected to win the next election, oppose the third runway.

Mr Forster cited a study published by the British Chamber of Commerce in July in a speech at the conference. This claimed that each year the building of a third runway is delayed the country loses between £900 million and £1.1 billion. He added that the future of Heathrow as a major European transit hub relies on plans for a third runway and that the project was more than just about boosting the company's bottom line.

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[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

[textarea]Heathrow third runway opponents win court challenge

Campaigners have won a High Court battle over plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport.

Councils, residents and green groups had said the government's plan was at odds with climate change targets.

Lord Justice Carnwath said the public consultation process used was invalid as it was based on out-of-date figures.

The decision does not rule out a third runway but calls for government policy to be reviewed. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the runway was still needed.

The Department for Transport vowed to "robustly defend" the plan.[/textarea]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8588220.stm

More fat fees to be earned by lawyers and planning 'experts'.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

If the runway doesn't get built the Department For Transport White Paper suggested that the most likely effect of the runway not being built would be that regional airport expansion would accelerate. I know that the effects of the recession will probably continue to be felt for many years to come but I wonder how accurate their prediction will be?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

The Conservatives certainly seem keen on regional alternatives and their shadow transport secretary specifically mentioned Birmingham as being particularly well placed to take a lot of the traffic displaced by the absence of a third runway at Heathrow.

The Tories also put great store in a much improved national high-speed rail network but that will take at least a decade to put in place always assuming money is available which could be debatable given the country's huge debt that will have to be addressed sooner rather than later.

However, political parties say much when in opposition then do the opposite when elected as the government.

For example, they are now back-tracking on their earlier pledge to abolish regional development agencies.

 

[News Guru]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

[textarea]BAA drops Heathrow runway plans

BAA has stopped working on an application for a third runway at Heathrow, after the new coalition Government confirmed that they would block the expansion. However, it will continue with plans to buy homes on the site where the runway was to be built, clearing the way for a future application should Government policy change.

Colin Matthews, BAA's chief executive officer, said in a statement: ‘We recognise the importance of government policy in a matter as significant and controversial as runway capacity,' but continued to insist the expansion was a good idea. He added: ‘Heathrow plays an important role for the UK and supports thousands of jobs. We continue to believe that new capacity would strengthen the UK's trading links with the global markets on which our economy and our competitiveness depend.’

BAA, supported by airlines and businesses, argued that Heathrow needed extra capacity and without it London - and consequently the UK - would lose out to rival European cities as a place to visit and do business. The company also announced it had withdrawn a planning application for a second runway at Stansted airport.

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[Aviador]

Re: Infrastructure Developments

I found a link to this pdf about Heathrow East.

Heathrow East PDF

 

[News Guru]

Re: Heathrow Airport Infrastructure & Developments

[textarea]Heathrow ‘investigate underground runway heating’ !

Heathrow Airport is looking into underground heating as a way of keeping its runways free of ice after last winter’s chaos, the Telegraph reports. Apparently not a late April Fool, it is based on an interview in Building Magazine !

The airport was crippled for five days due to the cold weather just before last Christmas, with 4,000 flights cancelled and thousands of passengers holiday plans ruined. BAA has pledged to invest £50m at Heathrow to try to avoid further problems, and is reported to be looking into adopting geothermal technology that stores the heat gathered from the ground during the summer. This is then used in the winter to keep the runways and stands from freezing.

Steven Morgan, BAA’s capital projects director, told Building Magazine: ‘It was not the snow that caused problems last year, it was ice. We are working on a plan to capture geothermal energy from the surface of the tarmac, so free energy without using the grid, during the summer, that will then provide a heating capability so the stands do not freeze in the winter.'

‘We would store the energy underground and use it to gently heat water that would then be run through pipes in freezing conditions to warm the stands, which are the slabs of concrete directly beneath the planes, to just above zero.’ The plans are still in their early stages – with similar technology already used by Scandinavian and some UK homeowners to heat and cool their houses.

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[News Guru]

Re: Heathrow Airport Infrastructure & Developments

[textarea]Heathrow seeks contractor for Terminal 4 refurbishment

UK airport operator BAA is looking for a contractor to carry out the refurbishment of Heathrow Terminal 4’s international departure lounge. The project includes the demolition and strip of the existing departure lounge areas, installation of a new conglomerate marble tiled floor, new gate desks and a reconfiguration of the queuing area.

The contract also includes installing a new ‘fin’ ceiling as well as a new multi-faith and training room, and mechanical and electrical services including new distribution ductwork and diffusers, and lighting. Work on the project is expected to start in December and be completed in January 2013. Contractors have until October 14 to complete the pre qualification process.

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[pilot_737]

Re: Heathrow Airport Infrastructure & Developments

I've been looking around on google to try and find the plans for the new terminal 2, as I'm wondering what it will all look like once completed. I can't seem to find anything, is there anyone that might know of a website?

Thanks

 

[News Guru]

Re: Heathrow Airport Infrastructure & Developments

[textarea]Topping out ceremony for Heathrow’s new terminal

Completion of major structural work on the new £2.5bn terminal at Heathrow Airport is to be marked with a topping out ceremony today, the BBC reports. The finished Terminal 2 will open in 2014 and be capable of handling 20 million passengers each year.

BAA chief executive Colin Matthews said the work ‘puts us within touching distance of a future where Heathrow has some of the best facilities in Europe. There is a lot still to do, but the opening of Terminal 2 could move Heathrow into pole position among European hub airports and allow us to set our sights on elite airports such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Incheon in Seoul.’

For more information on this airport news story visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17199855[/textarea]

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Heathrow Airport Infrastructure & Developments

Government's change of mind

The Coalition is having a change of mind.

After previously being dead-set against additional runway capacity in the south-east the Chancellor conceded yesterday, “I also believe this country must confront the lack of airport capacity in the South East of England - we cannot cut ourselves off from the fastest growing cities in the world. The Transport Secretary will set out Government thinking later this summer.”

One 180 degree turn then - a pity the APD wasn't similarly faced in the opposite direction - which could lead to extra runways at LHR and/or LGW and STN or even, whisper it - very softly, Boris Island. :s_omg

 

[Aviador]

Re: Heathrow Airport Infrastructure & Developments

Yes it looks like a U turn is in order. I can't see how extra capacity can be met realistically without more runways?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Heathrow Airport Infrastructure & Developments

Boris is throwing his toys out of the pram.

Despite his boss Big Dave, the chancellor of the exchequer and some Tory grandees now admitting they might have got it wrong about needing additional runway space in the south-east with a third LHR runway not now out of court in the deliberations, Boris calls the idea 'intolerable' and an 'environmental disaster'.

I love it when the family disagreements in politics are argued out in public.

 

[Aviador]

Re: Heathrow Airport Infrastructure & Developments

Boris is throwing his toys out of the pram.

Despite his boss Big Dave, the chancellor of the exchequer and some Tory grandees now admitting they might have got it wrong about needing additional runway space in the south-east with a third LHR runway not now out of court in the deliberations, Boris calls the idea 'intolerable' and an 'environmental disaster'.

I love it when the family disagreements in politics are argued out in public.

The past 48 hours have been particularly interesting so far as politics go, but as you've said before, they're all as bad as each other these days. It's no wonder so few people vote nowadays and to think people died for the vote. Beggars belief!

 

[News Guru]

Re: Heathrow Airport Infrastructure & Developments

[textarea]Virgin welcome airport capacity increase plans; say Boris island ‘bonkers’

Virgin Atlantic has welcomed renewed political discussion of options for expanding airport capacity in the South East, whilst dismissing talk of a new airport in the Thames estuary as ‘bonkers’, Travel Weekly reports.

Julie Southern, the airline's chief commercial officer, said: ‘On one level, a Thames estuary airport would be an attractive idea, if it had all the infrastructure and connections it needed. But building the airport would be the easy bit. Connecting it to all the networks would be a completely different story.’

'It would have to be a new hub airport because you can’t have two hubs. If the government thinks it is politically difficult to expand Heathrow, wait till they try building a Thames estuary airport, with all the jobs lost at Heathrow and all the businesses threatened around Heathrow. It’s a bonkers solution because it can’t be a solution.’

The Government will publish a list of options for airport expansion this summer to be followed by a public consultation. Ms Southern told Travel Weekly she would welcome the revival of a third runway at Heathrow as one option.

She said: ‘It is a good thing to look at all the solutions, including a third runway at Heathrow. When the Government does that, discussion could come back to a third runway.’

For more information on this airport news story visit: http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/ ... /10/40134/[/textarea]

 

[News Guru]

[textarea]Heathrow's £2.5bn Terminal 2 to open a year from today

Heathrow Terminal 2

Heathrow's new Terminal 2 will open its doors a year today, it has been announced.

The airport said the £2.5 billion project was part of the "next major phase" in its "ongoing transformation".

The first aircraft scheduled to land at the new terminal on June 4 next year will be a United Airlines flight from Chicago, arriving at 05.55.

The terminal will eventually serve 20 million passengers a year and will be home to 23 Star Alliance airlines, as well as Aer Lingus, Virgin Atlantic Little Red and Germanwings.

Full Story: http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/ ... today.html[/textarea]

 

[flexo]

I am really eager to see what Heathrow will look like in a year when everything's been completed. I' ll be there in a month's time and hope that everything will work fine with all the building work going on there and what not.. Anyway I was told that my car hire in Heathrow with sixt won't be endangered by anything so I am positive about it.