Heathrow’s team has now visited all 65 sites around the country that are longlisted to become offsite hubs for the airport’s £14bn third runway expansion
Heathrow Airport is planning to build as much of its third runway expansion project as possible away from the airport itself to showcase the potential of offsite construction.
The nationwide tour concluded in the Midlands with the Heathrow team visiting sites from Balfour Beatty, SEGRO and Prologis located in Tamworth, Derby and Daventry.
The next stage of the selection process is a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) which opens in autumn 2018. A shortlist of potential logistics hubs will be announced early in 2019, before the final four sites are announced later in the year, with construction set to begin at these sites in 2021.
Heathrow said “Britain’s construction industry is set for a major shake-up” as it plans to build as much as possible offsite.
It cites research commissioned from WPI Economics that found integrating an offsite manufacturing supply chain into a major project has the potential to reduce the overall cost of the project by as much as 25% while speeding up delivery by up to 30%.
Emma Gilthorpe, Expansion Executive Director at Heathrow said: “Heathrow expansion is much more than the delivery of Britain’s new runway.
“Expansion is a once in a generation opportunity to transform British construction as the country prepares for life post-Brexit.
“This nationwide tour has shown us the possibilities offsite construction offers and we’re looking forward to announcing the shortlist early next year.”
Business Minister Richard Harrington said: “We want the UK to lead the bytes and mortar revolution within the built environment and our Construction Sector Deal lays the foundation to take advantage of these opportunities – boosting productivity, creating better jobs and increasing new offsite manufacturing technologies to speed up construction.
“The Heathrow Logistics Hubs have the potential to be an example of this modern construction in action, embodying the principles of our Industrial Strategy and benefitting millions by allowing businesses across the UK to harness the strengths of their own regions to deliver a landmark infrastructure project.”
