Balfour Beatty to build phase one of Heathrow East in time for 2012 Olympics

A £350m midfield pier, phase one of the Heathrow East terminal is to be fastracked in order to prevent delays that have plagued the project so far, due to the opening of Terminal 5.

The main Heathrow East terminal is to be built by Laing O’Rourke and Ferrovial on the site of the current Terminals 1 and 2, which are due to be demolished.

However, due to its troubled opening, British Airways was late moving all of its operations from the existing terminals into Terminal 5, and the demolition has been put back as a result.

A BAA spokesperson denied media reports that the overall Heathrow East programme would be delayed for up to a year, but admitted that “elements of the programme are delayed.”

He said: “It isn’t a wholly sequential programme. The production design management is still continuing, and we have been able to work intensively on other parts of the scheme. We are very experienced in making up delays […] The aim is still to have at least part of the new terminal open by 2012”.

It is understood that the midfield pier, a freestanding building on the airport’s Eastern Campus, could be packaged as this “part” of Heathrow East, allowing BAA to keep its pledge to open the terminal in time for the Olympics.

A source said: “There are various options on the table. They are saying, if Heathrow East is not ready by the Olympics, what kind of resources do we have?”

The midfield pier is likely to be completed and operational in 2011. A BAA spokesperson said that it was “one of the main programmes at Heathrow East.”