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The passionate debate surrounding the expansion of Heathrow or Stanstead airport and its environmental impact is set to run and run. As a result the possibility of locating a new airport in the Thames Estuary on reclaimed land has been re-visited, and is supported by a number of MP’s and business groups. It's not a new idea; proposals for an airport in the estuary date from the 1970's when Prime Minister Edward Heath backed plans for an airport on the Maplin Sands. Since then there have been proposals for Cliffe, Thames Reach, and the development of Kent International Airport at Manston. Bll 2009 will develop the Thames Estuary Airport Company's Marinair proposals to build an airport on a man made island in the estuary.
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Bll proposals - PR driver Bll will capitalise on the controversy surrounding London's airport expansion and use the debate to draw attention to itself. A new airport for the estuary will be fully designed and published into the domain in April 09. In stark contrast to any previous scheme put forward over the last 40 years, Bll's BIM will be extremely detailed and have an abundance of tangible information. The proposals are bound to be picked up by the national debate and generate a mass of publicity which will raise the profile of Bll 2009.
feasibility study In November 2008, London's Mayor Boris Johnson appointed Douglas Oakervee, a senior civil engineer (Crossrail) to gauge the viability of the Estuary airport scheme. The £100K report is unlikely to be published prior to Bll 2009 which raises interesting possibilities. An all-party parliamentary group led by Labour MP Nick Raynsford has been formed to investigate the scheme.
Michel Post Architecten bv BNA MPA and BIM Products Ltd will be the architects responsible for the estuary airport. Roland Messerli Informatik will also work on the architectural design & engineering and produce the airport BIM; Norconsult will produce cost calculations in Calcus; Synchro Systems will produce a 4D model of the land reclamation and airport construction; and 3DMODELBUILDING.com will create the visualisations.
design competition The airport BIM will be 95% completed by April. The railway terminal linking the airport to the man made islands will form part of the competition and a team will be recruited to take-on the design of both stations.
virgin atlantic - possible sponsors? In 2008 Richard Branson publicly complimented the mayor over his plans to review the viability of an airport in the estuary. Bll’s proposals have obvious synergies with Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains who might be a potential sponsorship partner. Other possible sponsors include TEAC & leading airlines e.g. Ryanair etc.
dutch engineering expertise Bll will seek advice and possible sponsorship from Dutch companies who are renowned world wide for land reclamation and water management projects. |
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Sunday Times 25th January 2009
New airport & railway infrastructure - Virgin? |
