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Heathrow T5
Event Report
On Wednesday, 6 December 2006 at Microsoft's offices in Reading, members of BCS PROMS-G and their guests, were treated to a presentation
by Nick Gaines of BAA, about the planning and progress of developing Heathrow Terminal 5.
Nick Gaines is the Head of Systems Integration for British Airports Authority. He gave a very entertaining and visually stimulating overview
of the £4+bn Heathrow Terminal 5 Programme, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe in the last 10+ years. We received a
unique insight into the sort of challenges this has brought in terms of managing scale, physical logistics, and the application of technology.
He described the strategies and experiences that BAA faced on the ground and in particular, he highlighted the contribution to the
overall project that BAA's innovative approach to collaboration with partners, contractors and subcontractors has made.
The T5 Agreement is a legally binding contract between BAA and its key suppliers. Described as groundbreaking, it is unique in the
construction industry. Through the agreement BAA accepts that it carries all of the risk for the construction project.
With this burden removed from contractors and suppliers, it enables everyone working on T5 to:
- Focus on managing out the cause of problems, not the effects if they happen
- Work in truly integrated teams in a successful, if uncertain environment
- Focus on proactively managing risk rather than avoiding litigation. Download the T5 Agreement fact sheet i
f you would like to find out more about the agreement.
The scope and scale of the programme is huge and complex:
- T5 is scheduled to open at 4am on 30th March 2008, and is on schedule and within budget, there is only a few dates each year
when such a cutover can be made as it has to be on the night that British Airways switch between one season's schedule and the next
- The new terminal building will be big enough to fit around fifty football pitches across its five floors; it is situated on an old
sewage farm between the two existing runways and also bounded by the M25
- New rail/tube station, plus reserve railway lines for the future, all in tunnels
- New road tunnel
- The terminal's control tower will be the highest in the UK.
- Around 18km of conveyor belt will be used to transport luggage around the terminal when it opens.
Unfortunatley the slides from this event cannot be published.
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