Ten Terminal 5 facts
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Ten Terminal 5 facts
The amount of earth shifted during construction of Terminal 5 would have filled Wembley Stadium one-and-a-half times.
2. Passenger numbersThe terminal is designed to handle 35 million a year at capacity – equivalent to the population of Lincoln every day of the year.
3. Building Terminal 5Sixty thousand people were involved in making the new terminal – enough to fill Arsenal's Emirates football stadium.
4. ArchaeologyThe UK's biggest single-site dig unearthed 80,000 items including pots, cups, buckets, flints and a 3,000BC hand axe.
5. Baggage handlingTerminal 5 has 11 miles of baggage conveyor belt, along with the best proven modern technology to prioritise and keep track of them.
6. World-class designThe vision for Terminal 5 was created by the Richard Rogers Partnership (now Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners), also responsible for the Welsh Assembly building and the Pompidou Centre in Paris.
7. DimensionsTerminal 5, with its satellites, taxiways and aircraft stands, is equivalent in size to Hyde Park, London. Fifty football pitches could fit inside the main building (10 per floor).
8. TunnelsThe road, rail, Underground and drainage tunnels are equivalent in length to a third of the Channel Tunnel's underwater section.
9. Planned to the last detailThe Terminal 5 public inquiry was the longest in UK history, lasting four years from 1995 to 1999.
10. Rivers movedDuring construction, two rivers were diverted around the Terminal 5 site. Fish and other water creatures were moved before the diversion, and the new channels were made habitable for wildlife.
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