'Boris island' points to watery future for building

When Boris Johnson first aired his suggestion that the UK’s busiest airport should be relocated from Heathrow to an artificial island in the Thames Estuary the prevailing reaction was one of amusement. ‘Boris Island’ as it soon became known was seized on by the media as a potent symbol of the London mayor’s eccentricity.

But forget the concept’s arguably damaging association with Johnson, put to one side concerns over its environmental impact and cost (estimated at £40bn), and there is some logic to the idea. With aircraft descending from the North Sea rather than over residential areas, it would, claim its advocates, provide a neat solution to the problems that have bedevilled plans to expand Heathrow, and with High Speed One now up and running, fast rail connections to London and Europe would be an improvement on Heathrow’s piecemeal transport links.

Plus the idea is not without precedent: both Hong Kong and Japan, faced with similar concerns over airport expansion, built brand-new major airports from scratch in the ocean. Meanwhile the Dutch government is reported to be considering plans to move Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport to an artificial island built 20km out into the North Sea.