Terminal 5 interior

Terminal 5 check-in concourse

Terminal 5 landside concourse

London Heathrow Terminal 5 is an airport terminal at London Heathrow Airport, serving the British capital city of London. After opening in 2008, the main building in the complex became the largest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. Terminal 5 is currently used as a global hub exclusively by British Airways. The terminal is designed to ultimately handle 35 million passengers a year.

The building's lead architects were from the Richard Rogers Partnership and production design was completed by aviation architects Pascall + Watson. The engineers for the structure were Arup. The building cost £4 billion and took 19 years until completion, from the initial design through to opening, following the longest planning enquiry in British history.

[edit] History

The possibility of a fifth terminal at Heathrow emerged as early as 1982, when there was debate over whether the expansion of Stansted or the expansion of Heathrow (advocated by BA) was the way forward for the UK aviation industry.^[1] Richard Rogers was selected to design the terminal in 1989 and BAA formally announced its proposal for T5 in May 1992, submitting a formal planning application on 17 February 1993.^[2][3] A public inquiry into the proposals began on 16 May 1995 and lasted nearly four years, finally ending on 17 March 1999 after sitting for 525 days.^[4][5] Finally, more than eight years after the initial planning application, then-transport minister Stephen Byers announced on 20 November 2001 the British government's decision to grant planning permission for the building of a fifth passenger terminal at Heathrow.

Terminal 5 under construction in July 2006. The frontal car park building can be seen to the left, air side is to the right

Construction began in September 2002, with earth works for the construction of the buildings' foundation. A preparatory archaeological dig at the site found more than 80,000 artefacts. In November of the following year, work started on the steel superstructure of the main terminal building. By January 2005 the nine separate tunnels needed to provide road and rail access, and to provide drainage, were completed. In March of the same year, the sixth and final section of the main terminal roof was lifted into position, and in December the building was made weather proof. This roof could not have been lifted with conventional cranes because it would have penetrated vertically into the airport's radar field. Therefore, the roof was assembled on the ground using smaller cranes, then lifted into place by eight custom-built towers, each fitted with two hydraulic jacks to pull the roof up. At peak there were around 8,000 people working on the construction site, whilst over the life of the project over 60,000 people have been involved.^[6][7] Over 15,000 people were recruited in September 2007 to test Terminal 5 in readiness for its opening in March the following year.^[6]

Queen Elizabeth II officially opened Terminal 5 in a ceremony on 14 March 2008. Used exclusively by British Airways, the terminal opened for passenger use on 27 March 2008, with flight 26 from Hong Kong its first arrival. The first departure was Flight 302 to Paris at 06:20 GMT.^[6][8]

On the day of opening it quickly became apparent that the new terminal was not operating smoothly, and British Airways cancelled 34 flights and was later forced to suspend baggage check-in.^[9][10] Over the following 10 days some 28,000 bags failed to travel with their owners,^[11] and over 500 flights were cancelled. British Airways was not able to operate its full schedule from Terminal 5 until 8 April 2008 and had to postpone the transfer of its long-haul flights from Terminal 4 to Terminal 5.^[12] The difficulties were later blamed on a number of problems with the terminal's IT systems, coupled with insufficient testing and staff training.^[13] British Airways launched an advertising campaign to assure the public that things are working normally now.^[14] In November 2008 the House of Commons Transport Committee said the opening had shown "serious failings" by British Airways and BAA.^[15]

[edit] Site

The Terminal 5 building is on a 260-hectare site located on the western side of the airport, between the western ends of the northern and southern runways. The site was previously occupied by the former Perry Oaks sewage works, and lies to the east of the M25 motorway. Two artificial watercourses, the Longford River and the Duke of Northumberland's River, originally ran through the middle of the site.^[7]

[edit] Twin Rivers Diversion Scheme

One of the most time-critical civil engineering sub-projects of the Terminal’s construction programme was the diversion of the Longford River and Duke of Northumberland's River around the western perimeter of the airport.

The Twin Rivers Diversion was a complex scheme, which involved not only the re-routing of two rivers but also the realignment of the A3044 dual carriageway and Western Perimeter Road. The challenge was complicated by strict time constraints and the proximity of the works to local residents. Further restrictions to site activities resulted from the overhead flight path from both runways. 95% of the diverted rivers were placed in two open man-made channels 6 km in length, compared with only 50% of the original rivers which were conveyed beneath the runways in culverts. The Twin Rivers Diversion scheme achieved a Civil Engineering Environmental Quality (CEEQUAL) Award for its ability to maintain high environmental standards and quality during design and construction of the project.^[16]

[edit] Buildings

Exterior of Terminal 5A building showing aircraft taxiing towards runway 9R's holding point

The entire Terminal 5 complex actually consists of 16 major projects and 147 sub-projects. These projects include several buildings and a railway station. Furthermore, in order for these buildings to be constructed, a new control tower had to be built.

Terminal 5 will eventually be made up of the main terminal building, referred to as Terminal 5A, together with two satellite buildings, referred to as Terminal 5B and Terminal 5C. At the time of opening, Terminal 5A and Terminal 5B were completed, whilst Terminal 5C was under construction and scheduled to open later in May 2010. The whole complex is fronted by a separate building containing road transport facilities.

Within the complex are more than 100 shops and restaurants.^[17]

[edit] Main terminal building

Terminal 5 exterior

The main terminal building is 396 metres (1,300 ft) long, 176 metres (580 ft) wide and 40 metres (130 ft) tall.^[18] It is the largest building in the Terminal 5 complex and is the biggest free standing building in the United Kingdom. Its four storeys are covered by a single-span undulating steel frame roof, with glass facades angled at 6.5 degrees to the vertical. The area covered by the roof is the size of five football (soccer) pitches, and each section weighs 2,200 tonnes.

The airside facade from the inside

T5A contains a check-in hall, a departure lounge with retail stores and other passenger services, and a baggage reclaim hall. T5A contains the bulk of the terminal's baggage handling system. This baggage handling system is the largest in the world with 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) of high-speed track and 18 kilometres (11 mi) of regular conveyor belts. It is designed to handle 12,000 bags per hour, and also has an “early bag store” which can temporarily store up to 4,000 bags.

Departing passengers enter the departures level on the third floor after taking one of the lifts or escalators from the interchange plaza. Upon entering the departures concourse, passengers see views across Heathrow and the surrounding area, and are in a space that is unobstructed to the rising roof above. After check-in and security screening, the airside departure lounge also provides views across the airport, its runways and beyond.

[edit] Satellite terminal buildings

Terminal 5B is the first satellite building to be built. Terminal 5C is the second satellite building, scheduled to be operational in May 2010.^[19] There is also the potential for an additional satellite building, T5D, to be located to the east of T5C, as displayed in Heathrow's Capital Investment Plan for 2009.

Terminal 5B measures 442 metres (1,450 ft) long by 52 metres (170 ft) wide and 19.5 metres (64 ft) high, and contains 37 lifts and 29 escalators.^[7]

An underground automated people mover (APM) system, to the Bombardier Innovia design, is used to transport passengers between Terminal 5A and Terminal 5B. This will be extended to Terminal 5C when it opens. The APM system is located air side and is only available to passengers and other authorised personnel. The system can accommodate up to 6,800 passengers an hour and the trains run at 31 mph with a journey time of 45 seconds. Passengers descend to the station via the longest open design escalator in Europe.

[edit] Frontal building

Entrance doors to Terminal 5A building on car drop-off level

Unlike most airport terminals, the main terminal building does not have direct road access. Instead it is fronted by a 6-level frontal building, which contains a bus station and taxi rank (at ground level), a 3,800 space short stay multi-storey car park (levels 1 to 4) and a drop off zone (level 5). A walkway at level 1 of the frontal building provides under-cover access to an adjacent hotel, whist a section of level 2 will be used for the link to the long term business car park (see below).^[7]

The frontal building is connected to the main terminal by covered walkways at ground level (which corresponds to the arrivals level of the main terminal building) and skybridges at level 5 (corresponding to departures level). The combination of the two buildings with the linking walkways creates a series of open courtyards. Whilst one of these courtyards is occupied by the access structures for the railway station below, others contain a dancing fountain and a grove of 40 London Plane trees, and are accessible by passengers and other terminal visitors.^[7]

[edit] Airlines and Destinations

[edit] Ground transport

The transport network around the airport has been extended to cope with the increase in passenger numbers. This has involved widening of the M25 motorway and the construction of new branches of both the Heathrow Express and the London Underground Piccadilly line.

[edit] Road links

Side view of Terminal 5A building, showing aircraft stands and airbridges

A dedicated motorway spur has been built from the M25 between junctions 14 and 15 to the terminal. The spur also connects to the airport's perimeter road, and provides direct connections to the frontal building at ground level (for bus station and taxi rank), level 4 (for car parking) and level 5 (for departure set down). The car parking on levels 1 to 3 is accessed from a series of spiral ramps that descend from level 4 to ground level.

Besides the short-stay car parking in front of the main terminal, Terminal 5 is also served by separate business and long-term car parks. These are accessed from the airport's perimeter road and are some distance from the terminal. Currently both car parks are linked to the terminal by bus, but eventually the business car park will be served by an elevated personal rapid transit system (see below).

The terminal is also connected to Terminals 1, 2 and 3 by the Heathrow Airside Road Tunnel, although, as its name suggests, this is not available for public traffic.

[edit] Railway links

Platform 4 at the station

Terminal 5 is served by the Heathrow Terminal 5 station, which is located beneath the main terminal building, and serves both the London Underground and Heathrow Express rail connections to the terminal. The railway station also provides two further, currently unused, platforms for use by a possible westward railway connection. BAA are currently consulting on the route of a new rail link, called Heathrow Airtrack, to Staines High Street and through direct services to Reading, Guildford and London Waterloo.

Interchange Plaza outside main Terminal 5A building

A tube train on Platform 6 at Terminal 5

Heathrow Express provides an express service to Paddington station in central London, stopping only at Heathrow Central station. Trains run every 15 minutes and the journey time to Paddington is 21 minutes. Premium fares of £16 are charged for service to Paddington. However no fares are charged for the journey to Heathrow Central, which provides access to Terminals 1 to 3, to the Heathrow Central bus station, and to the Heathrow Connect semi-fast rail service to Paddington. Terminal 4 can be reached by changing trains to the Heathrow Connect service, which is also fare-free for this journey.

The Piccadilly Line of the London Underground provides a slower stopping service to central London, with a journey time of between 45 minutes and one hour depending on exact destination. Trains run every 10 minutes, and provide service to many stations en route to and within central London, with interchange available to the rest of the London Underground network. The Piccadilly Line is integrated into the Transport for London fare system, and fares are significantly cheaper than the Heathrow Express.

Terminal 5 is also served by RailAir express buses, which link the terminal's bus station (see below) with Reading station, for rail services to the west, and Woking station, for rail services to the south.

[edit] Bus links

The bus and coach station in the frontal building is served by a number of bus and coach services, including long-distance National Express coach service, "The Airline" service running from Oxford, RailAir buses, local public bus services, shuttle buses to airport hotels, long term car parking and car hire lots, and staff shuttle buses.

Because Terminal 5 is immediately adjacent to the boundary of Greater London, some local buses are part of the London Buses system, whilst others are run by operators from outside the London Buses area. As of November 2008, the following local buses serve T5:^[20]

An outdoor feature at Terminal 5, showing various destinations served at Heathrow

• 60 – Heathrow - Wraysbury - Datchet - Slough - Eton - Eton Wick;
• 71 – Heathrow - Staines - Egham - Windsor - Slough;
• 77 – Heathrow - Langley - Slough - Windsor - Dedworth;
• 78 – Heathrow - Langley - Slough - Britwell;
• 350* – Heathrow - West Drayton - Stockley Park - Hayes and Harlington station;
• 423* – Heathrow - Hatton Cross station - Hounslow;
• 441 – Heathrow - Stanwell - Staines - Egham - Englefield Green;
• 482* – Heathrow - Hatton Cross station - Heston - Southall;
• 490* – Heathrow - Feltham - Twickenham - Richmond - North Sheen;
• 724 – Heathrow - Uxbridge - Watford - St Albans - Hatfield - Welwyn Garden City - Hertford - Harlow;
• N9* – Heathrow - Hounslow - Chiswick - Hammersmith - Kensington - Trafalgar Square - Aldwych;

An ULTra personal rapid transit production vehicle

* - Buses marked with an asterisk run as part of the London bus network on behalf of TfL

[edit] Personal rapid transit system

Main Article Heathrow Terminal 5 ULTra System
An elevated and at grade personal rapid transit system is currently under construction to provide transport between the business car park nearby and the main Terminal 5A building. This system has been designed by Bristol based Advanced Transport Systems to their ULTra design, and the intention is that it will eventually transport passengers around the perimeter fence to Terminals 1, 2 and 3. The initial section will be 2.4 miles (3.9 km) long, and is expected to become operational in late Spring 2010.^[21]

[edit] New control tower

Terminal 5's design height is so tall that it would have blocked runway views from Heathrow Airport's control tower. Therefore, before construction began on the terminal building, a new taller £50 million air traffic control tower was constructed off-site then manoeuvred into position within the central terminal area near to Heathrow Terminal 3, during 2004. This newer control tower weighs nearly 1000 tons and is 87 m (285 ft) in height, making it one of the tallest in Europe and twice the height of London's Nelson's Column. It became operational in April 2007.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Heathrow Terminal 5

• British Airways site about T5
• BAA site about T5
• Richard Rogers Partnership site about T5
• The logistical challenge of engineering T5, Ingenia magazine, March 2008
• An airport worker's experience with the new terminal
• OpenStreetMap 334919, Terminal 5 buildings

Coordinates: 51°28′17.7″N 0°29′16.9″W / 51.471583°N 0.488028°W / 51.471583; -0.488028