2-887-658 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

Stansted Airport, Stansted, Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, 27/01/1988. A crane lifting the final roof dome of the terminal building at Stansted Airport in to position as part of the topping out ceremony. Laing Management Contracting was appointed ‘consultant contractor’ for the Stansted development in October 1985. The development included new road access from the M11, a new rail link with London and the north, short and long term car parking, new taxiways and aprons, and a new terminal building with an automated passenger transit system. Work on site began in April 1986 and the new terminal, designed to accommodate 8 million passengers per year, opened in March 1991. The terminal building covers 8 acres roofed by 121 square domes, each 18m square and weighing 12 tonnes. The domes were preassembled as units from steel lattice work and lifted on to the structural steel supporting ‘trees,’ designed to maximise floor space for passenger circulation with as few barriers as possible. Triangular roof lights provide natural light and uplighters were concealed in the branches of the roof supports. The lower level houses the baggage handling system, building services machinery and the railway station. Paul Channon, Secretary of State for Transport, was given the honour of controlling the crane to place the final section of roof as part of the topping out ceremony. This photograph appeared in the March 1988 issue of Team Spirit, the Laing company newsletter.