An exhibition and conference centre could be one of the key attributes of a new ‘aerotropolis’ in the Thames Estuary should London Mayor Boris Johnson get his way.
According to national press reports, the mayor announced his vision for a new city with 20,000 people to be built around an airport terminal in the Thames Estuary during his visit to India to strengthen economic ties.
Johnson was reportedly inspired by a visit to Hyderabad’s new two-runway airport, which has become an example of an ‘aerotropolis’ set 30km south of the city centre. The site plans include a convention centre on a 16-acre parcel of land, as well as a hospital and business school.
The ‘aerotropolis’ concept is being spearheaded globally by American professor and urban and aviation infrastructure design expert John Kasarda, and is based on the premise that airports have become key nodes within economic development and global enterprise. Kasarda was an adviser to the Hyderabad project and is expected to be invited by Johnson to help with his submission to the Davies commission on aviation, the London Evening Standard claimed.
“This airport in Hyderabad is very impressive,” Johnson was quoted as saying during the tour. “The Indians are very ambitious but they are very efficient as they use the airport to grow the local economy. They are quite right. We have much to learn.”
This airport-connected town of the future sees the runways and terminals situated at the heart of the city, surrounded by time-sensitive manufacturing and distribution facilities, retail, office buildings, entertainment, hotel accommodation and a world trade complex. The scheme also specifies exhibition halls and a convention centre as trade hubs within the development.
The mayor has offered up the Thames Estuary as a way of alleviating London’s airport congestion and expansion issues, and as an alternative to controversial plans to build another runway at Heathrow to the west.
Two proposals have already surfaced over the last 12 months for how such an airport could be realised. In September, architects Gensler revealed plans for a floating ‘London Britannia Airport’, based on four runways tethered to the sea bed. The architects said the design allowed for up to six runways if required.
Sir Norman Foster’s design team also announced his £50bn Thames Hub vision last year, which includes an estuary airport capable of handling 150m passengers annually integrated within a logistics matrix and connected by rail to the Thames Estuary ports and other UK ports.
Pictured: Foster and Partners’ Thames Estuary airport concept.
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