2-879-160 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

Heathrow Airport, BEA Servicing Hangar, Heathrow, Hillingdon, London, 12/01/1971. The west wall of the BEA aircraft servicing hangar at Heathrow Airport during its construction, with men fixing supporting braces to girders in the centre of the wall. In October 1969 Laing announced that its Industrial Engineering Branch had been awarded a contract for construction of an aircraft servicing hangar for British European Airways at Heathrow Airport. It was the company’s second major contract at Heathrow, following the completion of the BEA and BOAC cargo terminal. The hangar was designed to accommodate new airbus jets and existing aircraft. The hangar roof was constructed on the ground and was raised 20.5m by hydraulic jacks over 8 days in November 1970. It was then supported by octagonal columns, the bases of which had been sunk into 75ft shafts. Once the roof had been raised, concreting of the floor slab and construction of the walls could begin. Braithwaite manufactured the steelwork for the roof and the columns.