London Heathrow Terminal 5 Case Study
London Heathrow Airport Project
Introduction
The London Heathrow Terminal 5 (T5) project was one of the most complex projects ever undertaken in the United Kingdom and was the biggest construction site in Europe. The total investment in the T5 project was £4.3 billion and took approximately 37 million person-hours to complete. Elements of the Terminal 5 project include the main terminal, two satellite terminals, air-traffic control tower, and connections to public transport, road works, rails, and tunnels. Once completed and delivered to the British Airport Authority (BAA), T5 will serve as the base for British Airways (BA) and finally fulfill its ultimate goal of enhancing the competitive advantages of London and the United Kingdom. This …show more content…
BAA has learned how to deal with major construction risks in complex projects that include the delivery of the Heathrow Express project. Further, BAA conducted research specifically on problems associated with airport projects and identified poor systems delivery and integration during the final stage of project execution as a major reason why international airports fail to open on time. BAA concluded that transferring the risk to the contractor offered no real protection for the client. The only way to succeed on T5 was to change the “rules of the game” by establishing a new governance structure and commercial principles embodied in the T5 agreement. BAA was under the leadership of Sir John Egan, who instructed BAA to adopt successful lean production techniques found in automobile, retailing, and other high-volume industries to achieve an orderly, predictable, and replicable approach to project design. Despite operational problems that occurred when T5 was first launched, the T5 project achieved its design and construction performance targets for cost, time, quality, and …show more content…
The T5 team has learned from the early accidents occurring during the construction of the Heathrow Express project and, as a result, has changed its approach toward project risk management. Further, the T5 team has employed management methods that are rarely applied in the construction industry, such as just-in-time manufacturing, to enhance the productivity of construction sites. All of this experience and knowledge helped the T5 project meet the criteria of time, quality, cost, and
Introduction
The London Heathrow Terminal 5 (T5) project was one of the most complex projects ever undertaken in the United Kingdom and was the biggest construction site in Europe. The total investment in the T5 project was £4.3 billion and took approximately 37 million person-hours to complete. Elements of the Terminal 5 project include the main terminal, two satellite terminals, air-traffic control tower, and connections to public transport, road works, rails, and tunnels. Once completed and delivered to the British Airport Authority (BAA), T5 will serve as the base for British Airways (BA) and finally fulfill its ultimate goal of enhancing the competitive advantages of London and the United Kingdom. This …show more content…
BAA has learned how to deal with major construction risks in complex projects that include the delivery of the Heathrow Express project. Further, BAA conducted research specifically on problems associated with airport projects and identified poor systems delivery and integration during the final stage of project execution as a major reason why international airports fail to open on time. BAA concluded that transferring the risk to the contractor offered no real protection for the client. The only way to succeed on T5 was to change the “rules of the game” by establishing a new governance structure and commercial principles embodied in the T5 agreement. BAA was under the leadership of Sir John Egan, who instructed BAA to adopt successful lean production techniques found in automobile, retailing, and other high-volume industries to achieve an orderly, predictable, and replicable approach to project design. Despite operational problems that occurred when T5 was first launched, the T5 project achieved its design and construction performance targets for cost, time, quality, and …show more content…
The T5 team has learned from the early accidents occurring during the construction of the Heathrow Express project and, as a result, has changed its approach toward project risk management. Further, the T5 team has employed management methods that are rarely applied in the construction industry, such as just-in-time manufacturing, to enhance the productivity of construction sites. All of this experience and knowledge helped the T5 project meet the criteria of time, quality, cost, and