London Gatwick
Design & construction Design & construction
Dawn o
The departure lounge at London Gatwick’s North Terminal is undergoing a multimillion-pound redevelopment. As Rachel Bulford, London Gatwick’s retail developer, explains to Abi Millar, the aim is to improve navigability, instil a sense of place and cater to the diversity of passenger experiences. But could this just be the start of a much bigger wave of change?
Dawn of a new e a F
new erar
rom spring 2024 onwards, passengers at London Gatwick’s North Terminal will notice an array of eye-catching changes. Following a £10m redevelopment programme, the departure lounge will have new flooring and seating and differentiated ‘mood zones’. There will also be improved wayfinding features and local artwork on display, as well as a ‘green living wall’ and a host of new retail outlets. It’s the first time the departure lounge, which opened in 1988, has seen an overhaul on this scale. As Rachel Bulford, London Gatwick’s retail director, explains, the idea is to focus on passenger ease and efficiency at a time when their numbers are creeping back towards pre-pandemic levels. “We understand airports can be quite a stressful, chaotic experience for passengers,” she says. “Our aim is to strip that back as much as we can to
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enhance the experience and ensure passengers get their holiday or business trip off to the best possible start – and even consider their holiday as starting at London Gatwick.”
Eyes on the future
Situated in the luscious Sussex countryside, around 30 miles south of the capital, London Gatwick is Europe’s busiest single-runway airport and the ninth busiest overall. It welcomed 32.8 million passengers in 2022, around 70% of the 2019 total, marking a step towards business as usual after the pandemic lull of 2020 and 2021. The figures for 2023 will likely be higher, with 18.5 million passengers travelling through the airport in the first six months of the year.
While the airport could already be described as ‘bustling’, it is poised to reach a whole new level of
Future Airport /
www.futureairport.com
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