A DRAMATIC vision for the future of Britain’s infrastructure including an airport in the Thames estuary would enable the nation to maintain its global standing, according to a leading architect.

Foster and Partners, founded and chaired by Wembley stadium designer Lord Norman Foster, unveiled its self-funded plans for a Thames Hub on Wednesday (November 2), in association with infrastructure experts Halcrow.

The £50bn proposals include a Thames barrier and crossing, a high-speed London orbital rail line and an airport twice the size of Heathrow in the Thames Estuary.

Lord Foster said: “We have to have the courage, the political will, the intelligence, the common sense to invest now in our infrastructure. 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.”

Foster and Partners said a first phase could be built in 10 years and that funding could come from private and public investment. It said there would need to be significant change in the UK’s approval system to encourage investment.

Foster and Partners said a comprehensive environmental management strategy would minimises the impact of development and new habitats to “more than offset losses elsewhere”.

The Airport

The Isle of Grain is Lord Foster’s favoured destination for an estuary airport, half of which would be built on reclaimed land.

It would be capable of handling 150 million passengers a year and would be self-sufficient using tidal power for energy. Trains would bring 60 per cent of passengers.

Foster and Partners said the airport would create thousands of jobs, operating 24 hours a day planes taking off and landing over sea with a 95 per cent reduction in the number of people exposed to 57bB or more of aircraft noise compared with Heathrow today.

Rail

Foster and Partners envisage a high-speed “Spine” which link the north and south.

A four track, high-speed passenger and freight orbital rail route around London would take 4,000 lorries a day off the M25, the company estimates.

Thames barrier

Moving the barrier further down the Thames would free up land for more houses to the east of Gravesend and extend land protected from flooding by 150 per cent.