Heathrow Airport Report

Categories: AirportInnovation

Abstract

The essence of the paper is to outline the structural systems of long-spans, London's Heathrow International Airport was the building allocated to conduct this research. The paper will focus on the new technologies and innovations that have been implemented in Heathrow International Airport, namely the costs that were involved to make the technologies work. The paper is split into two parts, which is Terminal 2 and Terminal 5 as these two terminals were the last additions to the airport. In order for obtaining a better understanding of the research project, adequate strength and stability research will be used in order to determine the sound ability and integrity of the structure.

The purpose and focus is thus to develop applied research ability in architecture by articulating design and structural considerations, the problems of the structure and indicate its short comings and resolutions. Findings of the paper will address the design documentation of complex, long-span buildings, the understanding of the structure as well as problem solving when it comes to structures of that magnitude.

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Introduction

London Heathrow International Airport is one of the most demanding airports in Europe, the airport is used by 86 commercial airline which connect to 183 international destinations and approximately 46% of the airport's passengers choose Heathrow as a midway for their long-haul flights.

The airport is situation 22kilometres west of central London and is the only airport infrastructure in the UK, the airport site covers an area of 12.14 square kilometres and currently has five terminals with two parallel main runways and crosswind runways.

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The airport is owned and operated by BAA, which is also responsible for the UK's other main airports including Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, (Anon. 2019:1).

The new technology adaptation in firms and large socio-technical system in Heathrow International Airport mega structure projects. Influential literatures on the implementation and the flow of innovation focuses on the factors driving the adaptation of new technologies at the level of the profit-seeking firm, David (1986:374). The  Extant structure studies claim that the firm's choice was affected by two key factors, the first one was the assessment of the expected cost-effectiveness of the new technology, which then factors in both the expected benefits which included savings on new revenues on a much larger economical scale and the flexibility of network effected the estimated costs for example the  price of the manpower training and human resources adaptation costs, (Gil. 2012, Miozzo.2012 and Massini. 2012: 452).

Naturally a profitable valuation is different across firms due to heterogeneity in the distribution of innovation within the firm's environment and heterogeneity among firms in terms of size, status, age, and risk attitude (Battisti, and Stoneman. 2005: 23). A second key determinant is the Airports capability to recognize the value of outward information, and to conform and exploit it to profitability (Battisti, and Stoneman. 2005: 23). A firm's absorptive volume which depends on its benefaction of human and technological knowledge capital and on internal routines developed for this purpose (Lewin.2011:256) is to equip and recognize theoretically valuable new technologies and understand how they can be exploited and find ways to alleviate the none risks of innovation.

Heathrow International Airport underwent a major expansion in 2008 with the completion of Terminal 5. The second phase of the project was completed in June 2011. The airport expansion also included refurbishment of Terminals 1, 3 and 4, a new air traffic control tower, Terminal 5 station, tunnels for the extension of both the Heathrow Express (HexEx) and the Piccadilly Line and a motorway spur road from the M25.Proposals for a new Heathrow Hub railway station have also been given to connect Guildford, Reading and London Waterloo with the south-west of the airport, Anon. 2019:1.

Terminal 2 was designed by Spanish architect company named luis vidal + architects (LVA). The New terminal makes as much use of natural light as possible, the architect carefully planned the navigation of the passengers, making it more instinctive with immediate access to the gate areas, retail and catering. The design rational and concepts were executed although the time frame and budget were limited, the undulating roof guides the journey of the passengers through the terminal into three different zones namely the check in, security and departures (Gaete.2013). The design uses a repetition of elements making it simple, unique and both economical and fast to erect. The design philosophy is based on using a lot of natural lights, the northern facing windows are mellowed and reflected within the terminal by the usage of fabric roof lining.

The design philosophy behind Terminal 5 is not to far from that of Terminal 2, the language between the two focused on the same thing, to make the passengers experience easy and let the flow of the building guide the passengers through with little assistance.

Materials and Structural Elements

The roof consists of a span of 156m and is 396m long which is supported by 22 pairs of 914mm diameter steel legs that reach down to apron level. The scale of the roof's structural mechanisms adds emphasis to the use of steel as a way of producing a simple, independent building enclosure. The building arrangements and deflections for this type of span was recommended that only steel construction would be best suited.

Reference

  • Martin, S. (2016). Strategic Airport Capacity Management at Heathrow. Impact, 2(1), pp.7-12.
  • Anon, (2019). [online] Available at: [Accessed 26 Mar. 2019].
  • David, P. (n.d.). Technology diffusion, public policy, and industrial competitiveness. [S.l.]: [s.n.].
  • Gil, N., Miozzo, M. and Massini, S. (2012). The innovation potential of new infrastructure development: An empirical study of Heathrow airport's T5 project. Research Policy, 41(2), pp.452-466.
  • Battisti, G. and Stoneman, P. (2005). The intra-firm diffusion of new process technologies. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 23(1-2), pp.1-22.
  • Criscuolo, P. and Narula, R. (2008). A novel approach to national technological accumulation and absorptive capacity: aggregating Cohen and Levinthal. The European Journal of Development Research, 20(1), pp.56-73.
  • ArchDaily. (2019). Terminal 2A Heathrow / Luis Vidal + Architects. [online] Available at: [Accessed 2 Apr. 2019].
  • Verdict Designbuild. (2019). Terminal 5 - Heathrow Airport Designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners - Verdict Designbuild. [online] Available at: [Accessed 4 Apr. 2019].
  • Anon, (2019). [online] Available at: terminal-5-heathrow-airport/ [Accessed 7 Apr. 2019].
Updated: May 20, 2021
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Heathrow Airport Report. (2019, Dec 03). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/heathrow-airport-report-example-essay

Heathrow Airport Report essay
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