Blogposts tagged 'Baa'

Architects lose green sheen by winning third runway contract

Posted by jamie - 18 November 2009 at 4:07pm - 0 Comments

One of third runway architects Grimshaw's earlier works (photo by Mat Strange)

Even though it hasn't been officially announced, it's been widely reported that architectural firm Grimshaw has won the bid to design the third runway at Heathrow. How much design a strip of tarmac needs I don't know, but presumably there's more to it than my ignorant assumptions suggest.

Grimshaw are, of course, the firm behind such eco-hits as the Eden Project and the firm's chairman Sir Nicholas Grimshaw has something of a reputation for sustainable and environmentally considerate approaches to architecture.

Article tagged as: airplot, aviation, BAA, climate change, grimshaw, heathrow, stansted, third runway, transport

New Gatwick owners would like more runways, please

Posted by jamie - 22 October 2009 at 1:28pm - 2 Comments

Gatwick will shortly have a new owner. BAA is selling the airport for much less than it originally hoped in order to reduce the company's debt. But the new owners have already indicated they intend to expand Gatwick as soon as possible, including a new second runway.

Global Infrastructure Partners, which has paid much less than BAA wanted, want to give Gatwick a major make-over, including a second runway. An injunction prevents them from doing this until 2019 at the earliest, but GIP has suggested it will get planning applications sorted so a new runway could be built as soon as possible.

Article tagged as: aviation, BAA, boris johnson, climate change, gatwick, heathrow, thames estuary, transport

Third runway grounded? Not quite yet...

Posted by jamie - 13 October 2009 at 3:45pm - 2 Comments

How the Sunday Times reported the story

'BAA to give up on third runway' ran the headline in this weekend's Sunday Times and with the recent good news about Kingsnorth delay, there was a moment when I thought it was my Christmas and birthday presents rolled in to one. But unpick the details and unfortunately it's not quite the prize it appears to be.

Article tagged as: aviation, BAA, climate change, conservatives, heathrow, the sunday times, transport

Tories will 'definitely' scrap Heathrow's third runway

Posted by jamie - 6 October 2009 at 3:39pm - 6 Comments

Some promising news from the Tory party conference in Manchester, where they've pledged to dump plans for Heathrow's third runway as part of their election campaign package. "We are absolutely firm on our opposition to expansion at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted," shadow transport minister Julian Brazier told the Evening Standard today. "It will definitely be in the manifesto."

It's great to hear their commitment being reaffirmed as it shows how isolated the government is on this issue. But there's a long way to go between promising to include it in the election manifesto, being able to form a government and then actually getting round to reversing the decision. Reports from the conference say that the Heathrow pledge in Theresa Villiers' speech received a polite smattering of applause, but her promise to crackdown on cowboy clampers roused the audience further still. Make of that what you will.

Article tagged as: aviation, BAA, climate change, conservatives, heathrow, transport

BAA rapped for 'misleading' third runway advert

Posted by jamie - 26 August 2009 at 11:17am - 2 Comments

For as long as it's been pushing for an expanded Heathrow, BAA has been making exaggerated claims about the environmental impacts of a third runway. Now they, along with aviation lobbying group Future Heathrow, have been hauled up by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for making "misleading" claims about the levels of dirt, noise and air pollution a new runway will generate.

Article tagged as: airplot, ASA, aviation, BAA, climate change, heathrow, third runway, transport

The Airplot Big Lunch

Posted by annaj - 21 July 2009 at 9:39am - 0 Comments

The Airplot hosted a very special picnic on Sunday as part of the Big Lunch, which saw a staggering 2 million people sit down for Sunday dinner with their local communities to indulge in locally grown food.

Article tagged as: airplot, aviation expansion, BAA, co2 emissions, heathrow

Business trashes runway as BAA profits tank

Posted by christian - 5 May 2009 at 1:50pm - 2 Comments

Terminal decline? Photo: CC James Cridland

"I think the chances of a third runway being built are extremely remote now - I wouldn't want to say it's impossible, but really the fashion, the people, the feet are voting in the direction of no third runway."

That was said this morning on the Today programme by a senior aviation strategist at brokerage firm BGC Partners, who with the tagline "people and technology powering markets" can justifiably be called 'the voice of big business'.

Article tagged as: aviation, BAA, climate change, heathrow expansion, third runway

Legal challenge has Heathrow third runway in its sights

Posted by christian - 8 April 2009 at 10:03am - 5 Comments

We're taking the government to court. Again. This time it's over the third runway at Heathrow, and we're working as part of a coalition of groups that represent millions of people. NGOs, local councils and London local government bodies are all banding together to put a spanner in the works for the expansion plans.

Article tagged as: aviation expansion, BAA, climate change, heathrow, legal challenge

A Risky Business: Government spin plan over Heathrow revealed

Posted by christian - 27 March 2009 at 9:49am - 0 Comments

Risk register

Given that Heathrow's third runway is by many (fairly reasonable) standards a hugely unpopular and environmentally damaging project which would flatten a community, significantly contribute to rising UK carbon emissions, and be campaigned against by those bloody NGOs, it's fair to say that it must have been a bit of a headache for the person project managing the task of getting it approved.

If you're a project management type, a risk register (and I had no idea about this before last week), is a document where you have to list everything that could go wrong with the project, how likely it is to happen and how much of a problem it would be. You also have to say what you're going to do about it.

Article tagged as: aviation, BAA, climate change, consultations, DFT, heathrow expansion

Largest airport operator in the world? Not any more...

Posted by christian - 20 March 2009 at 2:24pm - 0 Comments

Stansted

The sun sets on BAA's dominance of the UK aviation sector, probably derailing Stansted expansion plans for good measure.

Times are tough at the enormous aircraft hangar that I like to imagine BAA plot their world domination from. Being the biggest airport operator in the world, not to mention being best mates with the UK government's inner circle, you'd think they'd pretty much be able to do what they wanted. But it turns out the Competition Commission is going to make them sell three of their seven airports - Stansted, Gatwick and either Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Article tagged as: aviation, aviation expansion, BAA, climate change, competition commission, heathrow, stansted
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