Eliminating powerful greenhouse gases in construction

HCFCs and HFCs have been almost completely eliminated from the Terminal 5 project.

Sustainable construction materials

Only timber that has been approved by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) has been installed by BAA at Terminal 5.

Using recycled materials at Terminal 5

Large amount of aggregate (coarse material used in construction such as sand, gravel or crushed stone) were needed during construction at Terminal 5. To minimise the energy needed to mine primary materials we have tried to use recycled and secondary aggregates where possible. 

Over 300,000 tonnes of aggregate were processed and reused on site from demolition materials and waste concrete. An additional 80,000 tonnes of recycled and secondary aggregate was brought into the project from other sites to be reused.

Crushed green glass from domestic household recycling banks was used as a base for site roads. Pulverised fuel ash, a waste product from power stations, made up 30% of the concrete mixture that was used on site.

Recycling our construction waste

The Terminal 5 site is the same size as Hyde Park and 9 million cubic metres of earth have been moved during the project. To avoid sending any excavated material to landfill, this earth has been used to backfill excavations and landscape the terminal and surrounding area.

Waste materials have been segregated on the Terminal 5 site and over 85% of the waste from the project has been recycled. We have set a further target of 90% of the demolition waste from the Heathrow East project to be recycled.