Heathrow

What would you build on the Airplot?

Posted by jamie — 17 February 2010 at 12:50pm - Comments

What would you build on our piece of land to stop the third runway?

Lordy. When we launched the Airplot fortress competition a few weeks ago, I don't think we were prepared for the sheer range of ideas we'd receive. We've had plenty of suggestions for forts of some kind, while others have trod an underground pathway with tunnels and bunkers, and others have gone fully 'outside the box', proposing bold and outlandish new design concepts.

How to build an activist base on the Airplot - we need your ideas!

Posted by jamie — 28 January 2010 at 11:59am - Comments

Update April 23: The deadline for this competition has now passed. No further entries are being accepted.

Exhibition: Come and see the Heathrow Contest entries »

Ever since we bought our piece of land on the site of the proposed third runway at Heathrow, we've been receiving suggestions for what to do with it. We've already sunk our roots into it by establishing an allotment and planting an orchard, but now we want to go one step further and for that we want to get your ideas. Watch the video above for more details, and read on for the full lowdown on how to enter the competition.

Government's aviation policy blown out of the water

Posted by jossc — 8 December 2009 at 5:10pm - Comments

The Committee on Climate Change's (CCC) report on aviation, published today, explicitly undermines government plans to allow a tripling of passenger numbers on commercial aircraft by 2050.

While its Chairman Lord Turner has been careful not to totally rule out the possibility of creating extra capacity in the form of new runways, the committee is recommending that "the policy focus for aviation must be on limiting demand for flights and investing in alternatives such as better rail links and video conferencing." In an interview on the BBC's Today programme this morning, Lord Turner confirmed that a 200% growth in consumer demand for air travel by 2050, assumed in the 2003 Aviation White Paper, would make reaching proposed emission reduction targets impossible.

Wave of supporter Airplot activity sweeps country

Posted by jamie — 25 November 2009 at 3:17pm - Comments

Gerald Kaufman MP (far right) joins Manchester supporters in planting an apple tree to oppose the third runway

From small acorns do mighty oak trees grow. Okay, we've been planting apple trees instead of oaks, but the sentiment certainly rings true for the Airplot tree planting ceremonies being held up and down the country.

Architects lose green sheen by winning third runway contract

Posted by jamie — 18 November 2009 at 5:07pm - 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.

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