- Following a clear recommendation from the Airports Commission, Heathrow has moved into the delivery phase
- Heathrow will create a Procurement Forum with business leaders from across the UK to inform the airport’s procurement strategy
- Heathrow’s annual business summit will include an event outside London for the first time as the airport looks to strengthen supply chain access for SMEs across the UK
In his first speech since the Airports Commission’s clear recommendation for Heathrow expansion, Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye will announce that the debate on where a new runway should be built is now firmly closed, that Heathrow expansion will enable the Government to deliver the UK’s long-term economic plan and that the airport is beginning to move swiftly into the delivery phase.
Expanding Heathrow will create up to £211bn of economic growth and 190,000 new British jobs across the country – the first wave of which will come from the planning and development of an additional runway and new terminals.
Speaking to delegates at the Runways UK conference, Mr Holland-Kaye will announce that the airport will now begin to develop a comprehensive procurement strategy for the £15.6 billion in private investment that will deliver new hub airport capacity for the UK. The strategy will focus on developing skills, creating jobs and encouraging growth across the whole of the UK – ensuring that SMEs across the country have the confidence and the support they need to access Heathrow’s supply chain.
Mr Holland-Kaye will announce that work will begin immediately, with the creation of a Procurement Forum with representatives from different sectors and experiences and from across different regions who will work with Heathrow to champion and challenge the procurement strategy of the airport’s expansion. The objective of the forum will be to make sure Heathrow has the right strategy in place to deliver Heathrow expansion both on time and on budget, whilst also considering the wider implications of other major programmes underway, and the supply chain opportunities for growth across Britain.
He will also announce that Heathrow will add an additional element to its annual business summit – which connects SMEs with the airport’s supply chain – to include an event outside of London for the first time. Heathrow currently spends over £1.5 billion annually with over 1,200 suppliers from around the UK. The Heathrow Business Summit North - taking place in Leeds on 15th October in partnership with the West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce - will ensure that more and more SMEs have the opportunity to connect with the airport before our detailed delivery strategy for the third runway begins.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:
“With expansion, we will create tens of thousands of skilled jobs while we build, as well as when we have built – skills that will leave a legacy of construction excellence in this country that can be sold all round the world. When we built Terminal 2, on time and on budget, we spread our supply chain to all parts of the UK, and we will do the same again, ensuring that all of Britain benefits from Heathrow expansion.”
Mike Cherry, Federation of Small Businesses Policy Director said:
“Airport expansion is a tremendous opportunity for small firms across the UK to grow their businesses and help deliver significant much-needed infrastructure. We’re delighted to be working with the team at Heathrow, and will join its Procurement Forum to ensure that smaller firms get equal opportunity of access in the supply chain to deliver a project of this scale and importance.”
Mark Gladstone, West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce Head of Business Representation and Policy said:
“We are delighted to be hosting Heathrow as it begins the development of its crucial procurement strategy for a new runway, following the Airports Commission's report. Our members in West and North Yorkshire have the skills, ideas and entrepreneurial spirit to really help Heathrow expansion take-off. It is right that Heathrow is looking to engage companies of all sizes across the regions as it begins to build plans of how it can deliver the new, much needed airport capacity.”
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Notes to editors:
Heathrow makes a significant contribution to UK Plc, a great illustration of which is the economic value that was created with the construction of Terminal 2: The Queen’s Terminal which was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in June last year. The project itself created 34,000 jobs in infrastructure, engineering and construction across the country and around 24,000 out of the 76,600 people working at Heathrow work at Terminal 2.
Heathrow used hundreds of suppliers to deliver the £2.5 billion infrastructure project, of which many were small and medium businesses right across the UK from Exeter to County Antrim. For example, the structural steelwork for the roof of Terminal 2 was made by firms in both Lancashire and Yorkshire. The contract was worth £40 million and Severfield and Watson said that the contract safeguarded jobs at both their plants and generated additional work. In Exeter, over 5,000 direction signs were made by a Wood and Wood signs, the company employs 50 people and added an extra 7 staff to support the increase in workload. These are just a couple of examples where the investment made by Heathrow made a real difference to businesses around the UK.
The Heathrow Business Summit North will take place in Leeds on 15th October. SMEs wishing to register should contact events@wnychamber.co.uk or call 01132 470000. More information is also available on the Heathrow Business Summit North website.
The day will consist of speed-dating style sessions of interviews with procurement managers representing businesses based at the airport. By forging connections and winning new business, SMEs have the opportunity to enter Heathrow’s supply chain before development work kicks off as well as using the airport’s international presence to not only project their brand globally.
