Johnnie Llewellyn

Heathrow has entered into a new government-backed consultation phase for the expansion of the airport. The threat of demolition to make way for a third runway has loomed over local communities and businesses for over 10 years, encouraging a sense of economic and social uncertainty which is set to continue for yet another decade.

Harmondsworth is one village earmarked to be partially razed in favour of national economic interest. It therefore represents a focal point of the clash between localist and globalist agendas that dominates the area.

Is there a condition that can mitigate this clash? My project proposes a radical strategy that seeks to ensure the long term sustainability of this historic market village alongside Europe’s largest international airport. Harmondsworth will re-emerge as a sprawling market village, minimising barriers to entry to small traders. Traders will however operate with the collective scale and efficiency capable of contributing to national and international supply chains.

Harmondsworth developed as an agricultural waypoint on the Bath Road, which previously connected London with the west-country. Arable land dominated the area; market farms and several inns emerged to accommodate the stream of travellers and traders along the Bath Road.

Heathrow Airport began to operate commercially after the Second World War and the M4 was built to re-route traffic from the Bath Road. The subsequent industrial development saw a shift in the local economy away from Harmondsworth and the neighbouring villages and reorganise in favour of larger national and international companies. Today, few commercial opportunities operate at a scale which allows for local business to play a meaningful role in the national and international supply chains which have emerged.

The proposal will see Harmondsworth re-established as a roadside economy, utilising the heavy traffic of the M4 by re-opening an existing thoroughfare. The village will compete for business with neighbouring Heston Services, voted the worst service station in the UK, by inverting the principles of Bicester Village. Where Bicester takes a global experience and packages it as a local one, Harmondsworth Global Market will take a local experience and package it is a global one.