Thames Hub Airport Runway, London Estuary Building Development, UK Architecture, Architect

Thames Hub Airport London Proposal

New Four Runway Development design by Foster + Partners, England, UK

22 Jul 2013

Thames Hub Airport London

Design: Foster + Partners

Location: east of London, south east England, UK

image : Foster + Partners

Thames Hub Airport Outline Proposal to the Airports Commission

This document outlines a proposal to provide the hub airport capacity that Britain urgently needs. But it does not resort to short-term, ‘sticking plaster’ solutions. It is a realistic and flexible long-term plan, which can support future growth, without subjecting millions of people to aircraft noise and pollution. The Isle of Grain site is easily accessible from Central London, the rest of the UK and Europe – for example, it could be reached in approximately 26 minutes from St Pancras by utilising spare capacity on High Speed 1.

images : Foster + Partners

Expanding an existing airport is not the easy solution – it is fraught with constraints, compromises and hidden costs. The price of a new four-runway hub airport at Grain is £24 billion – less than two new runways at Heathrow. There is now a viable private funding model, which shows that the new hub airport can pay for itself within a decade of opening. Britain has the expertise – we have built the largest, most successful airports in the world in Asia, where the initiative to act on aviation capacity has been seized.

Our experience in Beijing and Hong Kong demonstrates how the best of British innovation, design and engineering can be placed in the service of a national economic strategy. This is an opportunity to apply these skills to create a model of excellence, which can reassert Britain as an international trading centre and secure jobs and prosperity for future generations.

image : dbox_Foster + Partners

Thames Hub Airport information / images from Foster + Partners

4 Mar 2013

Thames Estuary Hub Airport

Design: Foster + Partners

Location: east of London, south east England, UK

Thames Runway Development Proposal

Foster + Partners has confirmed to the Airports Commission, the organisation investigating airport capacity in the UK led by Sir Howard Davies, that it intends to submit a proposal to the Commission in July for a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary. The airport is part of the proposed Thames Hub, a unique opportunity for an integrated infrastructure solution to rebalance the economy, stimulate growth and enable the UK to maintain its global hub status.

picture from architect

A new four-runway airport with capacity for 150 million passengers – and with future expansion capacity to six runways – built on a platform on the Isle of Grain in the Thames Estuary, will enable the economy to benefit from our maintained global hub status. It will largely eliminate the environmental, noise and security problems of aircraft over-flying London into Heathrow. The airport would be connected to London via a spur linking directly to the existing high-speed rail line, creating a fast route from the airport to the Midlands and North via HS2, as well as continental Europe.

The self-funded Thames Hub vision was first made public in 2011. Having received widespread support, the proposals have been further developed with the assistance of a group of infrastructure, engineering, construction, legal, planning, economists and cost consultants. The ongoing study has addressed airport design and airspace issues; a geotechnical assessment; costs and potential funding models; construction, planning and delivery; surface access; ports and shipping; hydropower generation; and analysis of economic, environmental, social and safety impacts. Meetings have been held with over 100 different stakeholders, including national and local government, the aviation sector, transport operators, business organisations, environmental organisations and local community groups, as well as global investment groups.

Lord Foster:
“We welcome the Airports Commission – it is an important task and demonstrates the government’s commitment to tackling the aviation issue. Decisive action must be taken in planning for future capacity if Britain is to remain competitive. We believe that a new four-runway Thames Estuary airport can best provide the connectivity and future flexibility that Britain desperately needs, while improving the lives of the millions of Londoners blighted by Heathrow’s flight path.”

Thames Hub Airport information / images received from Foster + Partners

Foster + Partners

Thames Estuary Airport in London

image © Foster + Partners