Expansion plans at London Heathrow airport include the £1.3bn construction of two multi-storey carparks.
Under plans published in 2025, more than 20 current car parks would be replaced by two multi-storey structures at Heathrow to support its third runway.
The new northern and southern parkways are designed to accommodate up to 36,000 vehicles.
With 16,000 spaces in the southern parkway and 20,000 in the north, both facilities would be more than double the size of the UK’s current largest car park – Manchester airport’s multi-storey, with a capacity for approximately 8,000 cars.
The two new multi-storey structures are part of a larger renovation of transport projects, including travel between terminals and bus facilities at the aviation hub.
The project plans to support the construction of an additional runway as capacity increases to 150 million annual passengers.
Combined, the car parks would cost an estimated £1.3bn, said Heathrow.
In February, Thomas Woldbye, Heathrow chief executive, said: “If anyone can build it cheaper, I would happily outsource it,” adding that the numbers are “uncertain” at this stage, reported The Times.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “We want to make it easier and more convenient for passengers and colleagues travelling to and from the airport, and Heathrow expansion presents a unique opportunity to transform this. Our proposal includes an estimated construction cost of £1.3bn that would combine 20 current car parks into two dedicated parkways on either side of the airport.
“Wider investments also include an overhaul of how passengers travel around the airport campus and new parking, drop off and bus facilities at Terminal 5. Expansion and our wider plans to fully modernise Heathrow will create a hub fit for the future, giving passengers more choice, lower air fares and state-of-the-art facilities.”
In November, ministers gave their blessing to Heathrow’s controversial £49bn expansion plan at the UK’s busiest hub airport, including a third runway.
The government said this would “enable quicker, quieter, and greener flights to take off from a new runway by 2035”.
The cost of the new 3,500m runway alone is estimated at £21bn, of which £1.5 billion will be spent on diverting the M25 motorway to the west.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will decide on a long-term model for airport charges, crucial for Heathrow’s third runway investment, this summer.
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