Heathrow Terminal 5: building substructures and pavements

Abstract

This paper describes the design and construction of the vast piled basement structures for the three terminal buildings at London Heathrow's £4·3 billion Terminal 5 project, together with 1 million m2 of associated aircraft pavements. The basements are up to 20 m deep and involved the excavation and reuse of 6·5 million m3 of gravel and clay. The aircraft pavement involved a number of innovations including development of a new high-strength concrete, which delivered a thinner construction and resulted in programme and environmental benefits.

Innovation at Airports: A Systematic Literature Review (2000–2019)

“…Although there was small attention to subject innovation in this category, the object innovation was discussed in depth for the land-and the airside. In terms of airside, innovation was found to be implemented on runways (Herrema, 2014), taxiways (Crawford, 2008;Schmidt et al, 2012), navigation systems (Mayer et al, 2015) and airfield pavements (Hachiya et al, 2005;Dawson et al, 2008;Lazar & Emery, 2013). For the landside, innovation was part of the construction (Harty, 2005;Guangshe et al, 2008) and terminal facilities (Davies et al, 2009;Gil et al, 2012).…”

Use of coupling agents to stabilize asphalt–rubber–gravel composite to improve its mechanical properties

“…Gravel has been used in pavements from long ago with two main purposes: because is a hard material it protects the pavement again shear and compression stresses produced by the vehicles and, because is a ceramic, it protects pavement again degradation by UV radiation [21][22][23]. This is an important component in the pavement construction, and then it is necessary to assure a good adhesion between gravel and asphalt.…”

Heathrow Terminal 5: terminals T5A and T5B

“…1 The roof structure started in October 2003 and was constructed in six phases: five of 54 m length and one of 18 m. The central arched section of each phase was assembled, partially clad and pre-stressed at ground level. Temporary works frames were used to position the abutment steel accurately.…”