|
News
Easy Access At T5 Heathrow Thanks to Howe Green
|
Subscribe to FREE newsletter
| Jun 17, 2012 |
When it came to providing access to essential building services within the largest free-standing structure in the UK, the natural choice was Howe Green, market leaders in the design and manufacturer of access panels.
Designed by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for client BAA, Heathrow airport’s Terminal 5 (T5) marks the start of a new era for the airport and for passengers using the airport. Designed to combine functionality with aesthetics, the passenger experience and journey through the buildings have been at the forefront of design, while consideration has also been given to architectural merit, environmental issues and maintainability.
With such a vast building came immense amounts building services covering everything from water and waste to electrical and communications and heating, cooling and lighting. To provide access to these services, many of which are located under the building mammoth floor, a range of access panels from Howe Green were specified.
Throughout the project, Howe Green worked with specialist flooring contractor Vetter UK, part of the Laing O’Rourke Group. For the Interchange Plaza, a public area between the car park and the main terminal building, Howe Green supplied its 1050 range of external grade access panels. These were laid with the Chinese granite paving. Within the main concourse, the company provided its 7500 access panels, which were laid with the 80,000m2 of hard-floor conglomerate tiling.
Howe Green’s 1050 series access cover has been specifically designed to provide deeper capacity for thick floor finishes such as external paving slabs and heavy duty loading requirements, making it ideal for T5’s plaza. The 7500 range is designed for all types of hard floor finish, including ceramic tiles, marble, terrazzo, concrete, resin, wood or parquet floors. They are suitable for up to 5 ton pneumatic tire wheel load, (cars and light delivery vehicles) and are able to withstand the rigors of constant foot traffic making them he perfect choice for what is without doubt one of the highest trafficked floors in the world.
Both ranges of panel provide easy access to vital underground ensuring that should any maintenance be required, access is easy and will not require costly, time consuming and disruptive removal of paving slabs or flooring. Like all of the access panels produced by Howe Green they are also all manufactured to the exact project requirements, without the normal cost implications associated with bespoke manufacturing, ensuring they provide a perfect fit each and every time.
Featuring double seals to meet the highest standards of hygiene and security, they are corrosion and maintenance-free. The panels also designed to fit perfectly flush with their surround to avoid distortion and prevent any slips or trips, essentially for heavily trafficked buildings such as T5.
Now complete, at a cost of £4billion, T5 look set to handle its anticipated 35 million passengers a year and BAA can rest assured that access to the buildings multitude of services could not be easier, or safer, thanks to Howe Green.
Visit our Medium Duty or Heavy Duty access covers pages for more information
About Howe Green
Howe Green is a leading manufacturer of fabricated metal floor access covers providing innovative, practical, economical solutions for accessing concealed services.
For other relevant searches, you might want to try: