Home and business demolished for airport expansion
A four-bedroom home and business in Gloucestershire has been demolished to make way for an extension to the runway of the local airport.
Blenheim House, on Cheltenham Road East, has been razed by demolition contractors, mere weeks after its occupiers were relocated to another nearby premises. The home was one of the last impediments to the £4 million scheme to extend the runway of Gloucestershire Airport by 30 metres.
The home had been the base of the BJ Boarding Kennels business. Owner, Gill King, said that they were sad to see the house go, but had been provided with an excellent alternative by Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council, which jointly own the airport.
"It was sad to see the house knocked down because we have memories there from the last 10 years," she said. "But what we have got here is so much better and everybody who has visited us is amazed by the new building."
Darren Lewington, the airport's head of operations, said that the extension will bring the airport up to Civil Aviation Authority requirements and expand the services they are able to provide.
"The progress of the civil engineering works has been quite staggering and the demolition of Blenheim House is a very significant point in the project," he explained. "Our runway environment becomes safer immediately and our corporate aircraft will benefit from being able to carry better payloads."
