Heathrow Terminal 5
With the recent image updates to central London we can see how they’re getting on with the controversial Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport.
The aerial image was taken earlier this year and although there’s been some progress they still have a lot of work to do before it whole thing opens in 2011, by which point BAA will likely have spent over £4.2 billion.
These days that sort of money buys you 60 aircraft stands, 2 satellite terminals, a new control tower, a new motorway junction, a 4000 space car park, a new hotel, bored tunnel rail links, diversion of two rivers and the design of a roundabout to say “T5″.
Thanks: Adam
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A quick question, how often are the images in google earth updated?
Wow! That is one busy building site! :-S
It’s only a shame that the new photos of London were taken at time when the shadows are so long, possibly late afternoon, or the like. Seeing some of the sights now is more difficult, I find. Hopefully they will eventually have the same hi-res imagery, but without the loooong shadows.
I find a concord below R27, so this should be taken long time back.
@ K. Murali: It doesn’t look like the concord is doing much. But then again, it’s an odd place for a display.
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
BTW: I had no idea Heathrow was so small (geographically speaking). Pretty efficient use of the space I guess.
Concord has been sat there for a long while… it’s kind of on display. You can see it when you come into land. I pointed it out to Tony Todd 18 months ago, when I sat next to him on a flight from San Francisco, he couldn’t believe how small it was…
M
(Tony Todd… he was the Candy Man!)
The concorde you’re seeing is a scale model, not the real thing!
Model or not, it looks to be full scale in comparison to the 747s in the picture.
Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde lists Concorde #208 as residing at Heathrow.
Thank you Malcolm and Koen.
PoisonedV – at the moment there seems to be a major update every few months, although not all areas are updated each time.
The scale model is on a roundabout, this is the real deal. The plane is only 61.66m long, where as a 747 is 70.66m long… and using the scale bar at the bottom you can see that the plane is to scale… Remember that the plane is only 4 seats wide with a gangway down the centre, so would look thin compared to other planes…
If you search for Heathrow Airport in Wikipedia, then there is a photo that shows concorde in ‘open air storage’.
So, until a plane spotter corrects me, then I’m convinced it’s the real plane. After all, why would they bould a scale, scale model… and then put cones around it?
M
Some ground shots of this amazing piece of engineering…
Plane spotting photos
Found the model:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
That is a scale model of a concord. Trust me I’ve seen it with my own eyes its no where near the full size.. Its been sitting there for display as long as I can remember.
but the time of day these pictures were taken have let me down 
I live very near to the airport and these new updates on google seem to be very recent. The last update was from around 2 years ago I guess (judging by the cars we had and the building works around us).
From the direction of the shadows I can tell you that this was taken very early in the morning. Im also happy to see the updated pictures of my house
So they built a 1:1 scale model of the plane and left it where you can see it… they then also state that it’s in open air storage and then there are also photos of the plane sat on a ‘runway’ by lots of plane spotters… okay what ever. Remember this is not the one on the roundabout which Mark found…
Does this angle throw any light on it not being a model!
(I hope the link works as it’s a bit long…
Just to be a litte clearer:
Model: Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
Not model: Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
oh sorry, I didn’t spot that one
I beleive that is the real one.
Not sure why they would leave it outside simply for display purposes though :S
‘cos inside’s full of planes being worked on and earning ‘em dosh. As they can’t fly it out and moving that wingspan by road’s not feasible, there it sits until they decide to use it to train the fire crews.
I didn’t know they were able to land planes on roundabouts these days…
Cool !!
Stumbled across this website by accident, and this is an amusing thread.
Mark got it right about “model” and “not model”. The not model is infact G-BOAB, a real life concorde.
It has recently been moved from the position shown here due to some work at Heathrow. And is currently parked next to where the planes used to cross the road to get to the hangers. (Scroll right)
I believe she is waiting for a permenant new home at T5.
If you scroll left, you see a plane that has just taken off from runway 27 heading west, over a construction site. It has 3 shadows, apparently taken in sequence as it climbed: one to the NNW, one at NW and a third due West. I know that the photos comprise a mosaic, but I’m curious. Why 3 shadows but only one plane?