/ / / / /

London May Get a Whole New Airport: Isle of Grain International

November 7, 2011 at 8:51 AM | by | Comment (1)

When it comes to airline and passenger traffic, airport and government officials have realized that London is going to reach capacity around 2030. That means it’s time to start thinking about some creative ways to expand the city’s airports, but instead of bumping up the ability of Heathrow or Gatwick, there’s one group with a slightly different suggestion.

Out to the east of the city—like 45 minutes or so—sits the Isle of Grain and the Thames Estuary. The plan on the drawing board is to create one of the biggest airports in the world, so large that around 150 million passengers per year would use it. Apparently that’s like twice as many people that use London-Heathrow each year, so you can imagine the airport’s size and potential.

Everything would cost like £50 billion, so obviously raising that sort of cash is one major obstacle. The other is that the airport would be located on or near lots of industrial businesses, including those that process natural gas. Obviously there are probably some birds and other critters that call the wetlands home, so we’re sure they—or their human supporters—are going to put up a fight.

Lord Norman Foster is the architect on the proposed project, and is known for his work on the city’s Wembley Stadium. Besides runways and terminals his plans include a train station to connect passengers with London and beyond, so a hop on the Tube and a quick transfer to the airport would still be a possibility. The four runways and plenty of foreign Starbucks are still very much in the planning stages, but the renderings are pretty—we say go for it!

[Rendering: Daily Mail]

Comment (1)

Post a Comment

Return to » London May Get a Whole New Airport: Isle of Grain International


Yet another fanciful idea

Communities in North Kent have been here many times before and every time it has been rejected. A Thames estuary airport does not make sense economically, would be too environmentally and ecologically damaging, too dangerous because of bird-strike, the aviation industry doesn't want it and neither does the government (it is UK government policy that there will be no airport expansion in the South East). It would potentially be the single biggest piece of environmental vandalism ever perpetrated in the UK. Lord Foster's "sophisticated doodle" is no different, the threats and risks remain the same.
FriendsoftheNorthKentMarshes on November 12, 2011 at 9:38 AM #Permalink

Return to » London May Get a Whole New Airport: Isle of Grain International

Join the conversation!

Not a member? .
Use of this Site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (effective 3/21/12) and Privacy Policy (effective 3/21/12). © Condé Nast. Your California Privacy Rights. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast.
Ad Choices