Continuing the aeronautical theme, I was interested to see that the new terminal 5 at Heathrow airport was opened by the Queen on Friday. I try to avoid flying from Heathrow whenever possible as it has become a bit of a nightmare, but needs must and when they get it right, then its fine. Living only 15 minutes away from terminal 1 is a great advantage, but I suspect access to terminal 5 will be impossible from the M4, so a drive of indeterminate length will be required to arrive at and leave from the new building. The main problem is that the access to the terminal is a spur from the M25 motorway at one of its most busy points between the M4 and the A30. On a bad day a 15 minute journey could become an hour or more, not good.
It is interesting that Beijing has opened its new terminal at about the same time, in preparation for the Olympic Games, here are some comparisons. Heathrow Terminal 5 (T5) is the size of 50 football pitches. Beijing (B) is the size of 170!!. Both claim to be built on time and to budget. T5 is the largest free-standing building in the UK , B is the second biggest structure in the World, and has 17% more floorspace than all of Heathrows five terminals combined. Unfortunately nine villages were flattened and 10,000 people were displaced to allow for its construction.
The Olympic angle is interesting as the plan at Heathrow is now to demolish the Queens building and terminals 1 & 2 to allow redevelopment for the super jumbo's and other services offered by non-BA airlines. Recent announcements have indicated the planned redevelopment cannot now be completed in time for 2012.
I wonder how many villages will be flattened if the plans for the third runway at Heathrow gets the go-ahead.
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