LHR Terminal 5 - Control Room
London Heathrow Terminal 5 - Control Room success
In September 2007, BAA staff began supporting Trial Operations at Terminal 5 from their new Terminal Service Centre Control Room. The control room is the hub of passenger, facilities, and maintenance, management for T5. It is also the operational control centre for T5's Automated People Mover.
Delivered ahead of target and under budget, the control room was designed by an Ultra-led team, using in-house expertise enhanced by the services of a leading human factors and ergonomics consultancy.
Ultra provided technical furniture (bespoke workstation desks, monitor wall housings, and specialist operator chairs), a multi-function rear-projected shared display wall, and some key systems the control room operators will use.
Not least of these is the Building Systems Integration (BSI) System, located on every operator's desks to provide a common user interface integrating many systems, such as HVAC, passenger-sensitive equipment, CCTV, access control and lighting control.
Flexibility and future adaptability were key design criteria for this 24/7 control centre. Approaches from International and regional standards assisted with product and design assurance, and conformance with legislation.
Systems integrated on to workstations and display systems include: touch-screen telephony; radios; airport staff information; enterprise applications; incident reporting/management; BSI; CCTV; automated public address announcements; and automated people mover central control/tunnel vent control.
Workload, communications, and usage frequency studies were undertaken in order to provide initial designs, which were validated and fine-tuned in trials with operators, in a mock-up of the room using full-sized trial desks.
Coordinating equipment and system designs from a number of suppliers, with architectural, civil engineering and human factors designs, was a challenge that the team met head-on, ensuring the client's requirements were met throughout the delivery.
