In April of last year, I was privileged enough to attend a talk held at the V&A by Norman Foster. The talk coincided with the China Design Now exhibition, and Foster was there to speak about his new Beijing Airport.
This part of the talk was very interesting, and hearing a STARchitect's approach to a brief and the design process was incredibly informative and helpful. It was however what followed in question time after his talk that interested me most.
Foster spent much of question time relating his answers on various topics to the issue of Heathrow airport. As a user of this airport for the majority of flights I take (not that numerous), I was intrigued by the issues that he was raising. Basically, he (along with Mayor Boris Johnson) argues that the placement of, and huge amount of air traffic to and from means Heathrow is a problem for London. He mentioned that the major flight paths for Heathrow take planes over residential areas, and it is only a miracle that has stopped their being any major airplane related catastrophe in London.
The proposal he outlined calls for the moving of Heathrow to the Thames Estuary. The move would allow for the creation of flight paths that take planes over water instead of densely populated areas. High speed rail would connect the airport with the centre of London, and the development would allow the expansion of the airport in a more natural way due to more available space, (Heathrow suffers from space limitations related to surrounding towns and villages hampering its expansion). All this would however be one of the largest civil engineering projects in British History. Does this make such a proposal impractical and slightly pie in the sky?
Moving a major airport to a newly made island in the Thames Estuary raises many issues, not least the engineering complexity involved in such a project, but also financial, relocation of current employees, loss of jobs, loss of natural bird habitat, the list goes on. What is clear is that the involvement of the Mayor and Norman Foster in the debate has raised the profile of the issue, possibly to the point where a more public, widespread discussion should be had. What are the implications of such a project, how will it affect local residents to the Estuary, would it be of benefit, in the long run to London?
I really think the idea of a new super airport in the estuary is a good idea. The problem is there will always be someone to complain. It is because of this nothing major hardly gets done in this country. The thing is wether we like it or not air travel will be around for the immediate future, and if moving the airport to the estuary is safer than this has to be the best option..
ReplyDelete