We are pleased to present this book which showcases ... - WSP Group

78
ENVIRONMENTAL
Terminal 5 Heathrow Airport, UK
ENVIRONMENTAL SUCCESS STORY FOR NEW AIRPORT TERMINAL
Terminal 5 (T5) at Heathrow Airport is one of Europe’s largest
construction projects of the 21st Century.When fully complete
it will provide Heathrow Airport with the capacity to handle up to
35 million additional passengers annually.When T5 opens in 2008,
its design and construction will set new standards in environmental
performance, an achievement in which WSP has played a major part.
The public inquiry into T5 was the longest in UK planning history,
lasting nearly four years.The inquiry set down almost 700 conditions,
many of which related to the responsible management of the
terminal’s environmental impacts during construction and operation.
Balancing environmental and commercial awareness
WSP was commissioned to assist in managing the environmental
aspects of the project, working jointly for British Airways (BA) –
the airline that will operate from T5 – and airport owner BAA.
In developing the design brief it was necessary to ensure that
throughout the design, construction and operational phases the
project would meet both the high environmental standards required
by the public inquiry and the stringent operational requirements of
both organisations.
To achieve this,WSP developed and managed the environmental
management system (EMS) for the design work and the construction
phase of the project, working in alignment with BA’s and BAA’s own
emerging EMS programmes.This work involved complex negotiations
with both organisations, each of whom had their own aspirations and
business drivers, and hence EMS requirements.
As part of this,WSP helped to establish an environmental design
review process, which involved management of internal and external
stakeholder engagement to enable the design to be progressively
developed and signed off at each critical stage by both clients and
stakeholders.We set up design expert groups, using both project
specialists and external advisors, who were world leading designers,
engineers and environmentalists, to verify the work of the design
teams.This process was crucial in enabling the overall design of this
complex project to be progressed in alignment with the public
inquiry commitments and ensuring that design solutions were
optimised technically and commercially.
Contribution to overall project success
A key focus of the work was to ensure that the handling of all
environmental issues contributed positively to the overall success
of the project at all stages.
For example, an early challenge was to supervise a revised
environmental impact assessment (EIA) planning application for the
diversion of the ‘twin rivers’ which run across the site.There had
been problems with the initial EIA submitted to the planning inquiry
by another environmental consultancy, and this work was undertaken
to a very tight schedule during the early enabling works phase to
allow the construction phase to commence on time.
One of the most successful environmental stories for T5 was the
water saving measures that were achieved within the design. 70%
of water demand in the buildings will be from non potable sources.