Proposals for a four-runway airport in the Thames Estuary were unveiled yesterday by Lord Foster, the founder of UK architects Foster & Partners.
The Thames Hub would encompass a new flood barrier and river crossing, rail and shipping infrastructure and an international airport at the Isle of Grain in Kent.
The project was unveiled by Foster & Partners alongside planners and builders Halcrow and consultancy group Volterra.
The airport would be capable of handling 150 million passengers per year, and would be integrated within a logistics matrix connecting the Thames Estuary Ports and the ports of Liverpool, Southampton and Felixstowe by rail.
The four-track, high-speed passenger and freight orbital rail route would link London’s radial lines, a future high-speed rail line to the Midlands and the North, the Thames Estuary ports, High Speed 1 (Channel Tunnel to London), and European networks.
Foster & Partners said the Thames Hub would establish the transport connections needed by the UK in order to maximise its international trade links. The project would also create jobs, it said, balance the economy between North and South, and boost the economies of the Midlands and the North by providing them with direct connections to Europe.
Commenting on the proposals, Lord Foster, founder and chairman of Foster & Partners, said: “If we are to establish a modern transport and energy infrastructure in Britain for this century and beyond, we need to recapture the foresight and political courage of our 19th century forebears and draw on our traditions of engineering, design and landscape.
“If we don’t then we are denying future generations to come. We are rolling over and saying we are no longer competitive—and this is a competitive world. So I do not believe we have a choice.”
The scheme would cost an estimated £50 billion and be built on partially reclaimed land.
