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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 a Ritazza coffee shop, aviation
model shop (on the side of the building) along with 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 is popular with airplane spotters who
can usually be seen here with binoculars, cameras and radio scanner to
hand.
A section of the building is used as a 'Heathrow Airport exhibition
centre' which is open to the public on weekends and school holidays. The
exhibition looks at Heathrow’s history and its current role and gives a
glimpse to its future developments. It incorporates interactive displays
and memorabilia from over the years.
Open 10am to 4pm weekends and school holidays.
WHEN THE BUILDING AS THE VISITOR CENTRE
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 is
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 in this form) seen from the car park
Outside the building is 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 has been located in different parts of the airport
including
the main central area before its current location outside the visitor
centre.
click to enlarge
The interior layout
The first floor has a viewing area over the airport runways
exhibits include models of the airport and also terminal 5
Some exhibits are interactive
There are several cabinet displays
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