LONDON 27 March 2008 Vast Terminal 5 inaugurated with fanfare at Heathrow Airport

Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Charles will inaugurates Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, the biggest free-standing building in the United Kingdom, on Mar 27. The runway is also outsized, as it has been designed to accommodate the behemoth Airbus A380 jet. As the inauguration for the vast glass, concrete and steel structure approaches, the praise and criticism that the project has drawn since its conception can be expected to reach a crescendo.

Handling 30 million passengers a year, T5 will boost Heathrow's annual turnover to 90 million. Its present turnover is 68 million. BAA Heathrow, which owns the airport, and British Airways, which will occupy the new terminal, say T5 will take pressure off the older terminals, which will all be rebuilt or refurbished by 2012, in time for the Olympics. They say new systems at T5 will shorten queues and speed up baggage handling, allowing London to remain a world financial hub far into the future.

The T5 critics, who include Friends of the Earth, say it is a Trojan horse, and that BAA will use Heathrow's improved passenger capacity to press for a third runway.

T5’s first passengers will arrive from Hong Kong in the morning at one of 60 new aircraft stands and around 40,000 customers will pass through it on its first day of operation.

Designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership, it is 131 feet high, 1299 feet long and 577 feet wide. It boasts technological innovations and environmental credentials. Passengers will be encouraged to check-in online or at a self-service kiosk when they arrive at the terminal, and the latest technology is also being applied to bag drop facilities. Waste heat from the existing combined heat and power station at Heathrow is being piped to T5 through an underground pipeline and will provide T5 with 85 per cent of its heat on demand. Also, rainwater will be harvested from the roof and groundwater boreholes will supply non-potable water, reducing the demand on mains water supply by 70 per cent. Jan/08

RELATED READING:

Terminal 5 Heathrow
http://www.heathrowairport.com/portal/site/default/menuitem.2f4d5e2800e51acc0fb42410c02865a0/