British Airways completes latest phase of redevelopment of Heathrow engineering base

British Airways has completed the latest phase of a multi-million pound redevelopment of its Heathrow engineering base as it prepares for the arrival of its new fleet of Airbus A380 super jumbos. A 24 tonne roof “eyebrow” has been lifted into place in one of the aircraft hangers as builders raised the height of the entrance to accommodate the A380s. At nearly 23 m high the hangars could easily accommodate the Boeing 747, but with the arrival of 12 A380s from 2013 the entrance to two hangars needed to be raised by another 3.5 m to accommodate the larger tail fin. Due to the complexity of the lifting operation and the height of the crane, work had to take place overnight so it wouldn’t interfere with aircraft landings at the world’s busiest international airport. The redevelopment has involved the introduction of 138 tonnes of additional steel and strengthening to create a new ‘eye brow’ truss to form the remodeled opening.  The single largest piece of steel reinforcement – the ‘eye’ piece- weighs 24 tonnes.  Over 30,000 welding rods weighing approximately 1.5 tonnes will be used creating over 4 km of linear welds.  The hangers were built in the early 1950s and gained grade II listed status from English Heritage in 1995. Adapting the landmark buildings requires great care and skill to preserve the internal unsupported arches.