Heathrow

Eden Project architect risks green reputation over Heathrow contract

Friday, 13 November 2009 00:00

From its opening in 2001, the Eden Project in Cornwall has come to exemplify the fightback against global warming – and its designer, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, has basked in the green glow of a reputation as one of the country's most sustainable architects.

But environmental campaigners today branded the firm's green claims "laughable" after it emerged that the practice led by Grimshaw, the president of the Royal Academy, was set to be named lead designer of Heathrow's £8bn third runway expansion. The project will allow an extra 350 flights and transform Heathrow into the single biggest emitter of CO2 in the UK, according to Greenpeace.

Grimshaw's selection has yet to be formally announced by Heathrow's operator, BAA, but rivals for the job have been privately informed by the client that the firm has won the contract, the architecture newspaper Building Design reported today. That was confirmed by competing architects, as environmentalists pledged to take direct action against Grimshaw in the coming weeks to try to persuade the firm to stand down from the job.

Read the full article in The Guardian.

We wonder why Grimshaw would risk it's reputation for a contract which will is unlikely to be fulfilled.

It will be interesting to hear the PR spin on this one. No doubt BAA will give them some guidance.

Heathrow counts cost of disappearing business passengers

Monday, 19 October 2009 00:00

The number of business passengers using Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, fell by 5 per cent last year, according to the annual survey of passengers by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The numbers dropped by 1.2 million to 22.8 million, just over a third of the total number of all passengers.

The fall has contributed to a severe decline in revenues for airlines operating out of Heathrow. British Airways, Heathrow's largest user, lost £401 million last year as a result of declining premium passenger numbers, which fell by an average of about 15 per cent.

The number of leisure passengers using the airport rose by more than one million to 44 million as airlines cut fares to keep their aircraft full.

Read the full article in The Times.

This is the so-called 99% full airport which is "vital" to the British economy. Business passengers are shunning it (Luton and Stansted have both seen a rise in business passengers) and almost two-thirds of Heathrow users are leisure travellers.

But remember; according to the aviation lobby it's crucial for Britain's competitiveness that Heathrow expands to become a major internation hub for business travellers.

That'll be the business travellers who don't want to use it, then.

Even with no new runway Heathrow is still far too big

Tuesday, 13 October 2009 00:00

So is it victory? Sensational weekend reports that the British Airports Authority has abandoned its bid for a third runway at Heathrow remain unconfirmed, and indeed denied by the company. But the indications are clear, as is the Tory promise to rescind the bid. The time-honoured pledge that Heathrow would not grow was reneged on by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Now it might be reasserted, and the threat of jet-scream lifted from hundreds of thousands of London residents.

Recession, which means poverty, is yielding ever more green linings. Kent's new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth has been halted. Iconic skyscrapers are withering on the drawing board. The extravagant Crossrail project is again in doubt. But nothing is greener than opposition to millions of tons of concrete being poured over Harmondsworth meadows so that more jumbo jets can roar over anywhere in London with a W in its postcode.

Heathrow has been a textbook case of rotten government ever since it became the main London airport in succession to Croydon after the war.

Read the full article in The Evening Standard.

The article continues: "Londoners should never believe a word from an air industry executive or a minister for planning. They lie."

Unfortunately we know that all too well. It's the story of Heathrow. Regardless of BAA's pronouncements this campaign must not stop until all politlcal parties are forced by public opinion into calling a halt to Heathrow expansion. Permanently.

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