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Heathrow Academy
Address: Newall Road, Hayes Middlesex, UB3 5 AP
phone: 020-8745-6655
The Heathrow Academy (the building used to be the Heathrow Visitor
Centre) opened in January 2007 (after refurbishment from its previous
use as the visitor centre). It houses conference and
training facilities.
Its entrance is on the Northern Perimeter road which runs parallel with
the airport runway area. A few minutes drive from the terminals and
adjacent to the Renaissance Heathrow Hotel. Accessible using the
free bus service around the
airport. The parking area itself has been popular with airplane spotters
as it offered good views of the runway and central areas.
A section of the building was used as the 'Heathrow Airport exhibition
centre' but this closed 0on 1st march 2010.
WHEN THE BUILDING WAS THE VISITOR CENTRE (for historical reference
only)
The Visitor centre was located outside of the main terminal areas but
closed in Autumn 2006.
The centre opened in May 1995 and provided something a bit different for
all the family with time on their hands at the airport. An interactive
exhibition of the history of Heathrow Airport in photographs and words,
with displays, computer displays, artefacts and models. On the first
floor was
a cafe along with an area that has views of the airport grounds.
When it existed pre 2007 on
the first floor was a scale model of the airport alongside a model of
the new terminal 5. The first part of the floor at the top of the stairs
had exhibits detailing the steps taken by the airport towards combating
noise. The ground floor included seats taken from
actual aircraft and an interactive exhibit that included a flight deck
simulation inside an actual aircraft nose cone. The individual display
cabinets included exhibits detailing, 'The Dawn of Commercial Airlines',
'A History of BAA and Heathrow Airport Ltd' and 'Heathrow, How It All
Began'. A further section was dedicated to 'HM Customs and Excise'
and also included items that been confiscated from passengers trying to
take them on flights illegally. The ground floor included a stand
giving information on runway lighting and had examples of lights used
past and present.
Heathrow Visitor Centre (pre 2007 and no longer exists) seen from the car park
Outside the building was a statue of Sir John Alcock and Sir Arthur
Whitten Brown
Who made the first direct flight across the Atlantic on 14th-15th June
1919.
The memorial was first unveiled on the 35th Anniversary of the Atlantic
crossing
on 15th June 1954. It had been located in different parts of the airport
including
the main central area before its location outside the visitor
centre.
click to enlarge
The old interior layout
The first floor has a viewing area over the airport runways
exhibits included models of the airport and also terminal 5
Some exhibits were interactive
There were several cabinet displays
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