Contact | Sep 12 Region in focus

61

HEATHROW

Terminal 2 prepares for take-off as development continues apace

In the Chair Pat Feighery FCIOB

Investment into development at Heathrow will continue into 2013

Tell us about your career My first job after college in Dublin was in London as an assistant estimator. I later returned to the family business in Ireland. I then worked in the Middle East for McInerney before returning to England in 1987 to work for the Wickens Building Group in Southampton. In 1994 I joined a small development company called Amplevine which was, shortly after, sold to Linden Homes. I retired in June 2011.

BAA Capital Projects – the design and construction arm of BAA – has reached significant milestones in the last year in Heathrow’s capital investment programme. More than £1bn has been invested in 2012 and

more than £900m was invested in 2011. Spending will continue into 2013 as progress is made towards opening Terminal 2. The new superstructure is now complete and the building weather-tight. This has enabled significant progress to be made on the terminal’s interior, including completion of the floor structures, installation of major mechanical and electrical equipment and fit-out of outbound baggage systems, escalators and passenger conveyors.

Extensive work on the terminal’s aircraft stands has included installation of fuel, drainage, water, electrical and communications services, as well as construction of the concrete pavement. The second phase of Terminal 2’s satellite building

(Terminal 2B) is well underway with construction of the extensive basement structures to house the tracked transit train and baggage systems. These will connect the satellite to the main building, once the main terminal’s second phase is constructed. The whole second phase of the satellite building

is expected to be weather-tight in late 2012. Construction of the multi-storey car park’s arrivals and departures ramps has been completed and the car park construction is well underway.

Green light for Worthing Gateway proposals

Worthing Borough Council has given the go-ahead for Hanson Capital Management’s £150m Worthing Gateway regeneration proposals. Plans include a nine-screen cinema complex, leisure and retail facilities plus 260 new homes. The Worthing Gateway development is the

first major town centre commercial scheme in the region for over 20 years. John Desmond, managing director of Hanson Capital Management, said it was good news for Worthing’s future prosperity. “We have had very

strong support from residents who want to get the project moving so that the long-term Teville Gate eyesore can be finally cleared away and a new start made on this key town centre site.” A supermarket and cinema are already under

offer and discussions are progressing for a Hotel and Conference and Exhibition Centre, as well as with national and regional restaurant groups. Completion of the project is expected by

Christmas 2014. Blue Sky Planning is the planning consultant and HNG and Savills are joint letting agents.

What are your ambitions for the branch? I want the South East Branch to pursue a programme of activity that embraces the CIOB Strategy of employer engagement, fit-for- purpose qualifications, education, environmental sustainability and stakeholder engagement. There is a structure in place within

the Branch and Centres to enable that to happen. We want to engage more members and encourage new people to consider the CIOB as a way to enhance their professional standing. By having this as the focus for our CPD events and actively involving ourselves with universities and colleges we will move forward.

What specific challenges does construction face in your region? In a tough economic period we have to ask ourselves: what can we do to ensure that CIOB remains relevant? I believe the answer lies in our

CIOB strategy of engagement, not just to ensure that we get the right people in the right seats on the bus, but to get more of them on the bus in the first instance. Engagement with employers and

educators is critical. Maintaining contact with our members continues to be a challenge but how can we achieve our strategic objective if we are not listening to our members? It has long been acknowledged

that poor communication bedevils our Institute, let’s deal with it and move on.