Today, a delegation from Heathrow Airport is visiting i1fun in Scunthorpe which is in the running to be an off-site construction centre for Heathrow expansion.
Yorkshire and the Humber is home to eleven longlisted sites, which will be visited as part of a nationwide tour of 65 sites in the running to be offsite construction centres for Heathrow expansion, more sites than any other region. The final four Logistics Hubs will help ensure that businesses across the UK will form part of the airport’s supply chain, enabling Heathrow’s new runway to deliver a legacy of construction excellence in different locations around the UK.
Heathrow expansion is set to deliver 11,200 new jobs and £12 billion worth of wider economic benefits across Yorkshire and the Humber. The region is also set to benefit from more connections to Heathrow, with HS2 set to provide faster journeys to the UK’s only hub airport. The nationwide tour of the longlisted Logistics Hub sites is another milestone in the delivery of Heathrow expansion, ahead of an expected Parliamentary vote on the policy framework in the first half of this year.
Heathrow is pioneering Logistics Hubs, where components of the airport will be pre-assembled before being transported in consolidated loads to the airport. Logistics Hubs are essential in ensuring Heathrow expansion delivers for the whole country by spreading jobs, boosting productivity and modernising the construction industry outside of London and the South East. They will ensure that 60% of the procurement spend for expansion will be outside of London, spreading the benefits of local investment up and down the country.
As well as the direct benefits, the latest research from WPI Economics shows that, if adopted more widely, the Logistics Hubs model could spur growth in off-site construction and lead to a productivity boost worth £30 billion for the industry outside of London by 2025.
Heathrow’s Logistics hubs feature in the Government’s Industrial Strategy, listed as an example of how to develop skills across the UK and create conditions where successful businesses can emerge. Heathrow has also begun working with other major infrastructure companies to explore how the final sites could be used for future projects.
Lord Deighton, Chairman at Heathrow Airport, said:“Heathrow expansion is a national infrastructure project that will benefit the whole country, including right across Yorkshire and the Humber, so it is hugely exciting to have a delegation from Heathrow in the region as part of the latest stage of our nationwide tour of potential Logistics Hubs locations.
“Logistics Hubs are instrumental in our aim to ensure that expansion spreads the huge potential of tens of billions of pounds in economic benefits across the UK and will help to transform the construction industry and build a lasting skills legacy for future generations in various locations across the country and beyond London.
“We are working in partnership with local employers, councils and entrepreneurs to support new opportunities for the region arising from Heathrow expansion through new jobs, economic growth and easier and faster journeys to and from Heathrow and Yorkshire and the Humber.”
i1fun Deputy CEO Paul Martin said: “We’re delighted to welcome Heathrow to our headquarters and showcase the leading role our site, and this region, can play in its expansion.
“We have superb infrastructure, excellent transport connections and unique development opportunities. By working in partnership with our many supporters, we can deliver a first-class logistics hub to Heathrow and a huge economic boost to Yorkshire and the Humber.”