It was the ultimate jet-set location, the chosen entry route into the UK for a host of international celebrities wreathed in sunglasses and designer outfits.

But now the pioneering Terminal 1 building at Heathrow Airport stands empty.

The tumult of travel has been reduced to cathedral silence and the sound of footsteps echoes eerily around the departure and arrivals halls once trodden by millions of business people and holidaymakers, as well as the great and the glamorous.

While British Airways passengers suffered chaos when computers failed at the weekend, in T1 regimented rows of disused seats line the once thronging departure hall as decommissioning teams strip it bare and sell off anything from baggage conveyor belts and flight monitors to fire extinguishers and toilet bowls.

T1 was the biggest and the best.

Steven Mearns, Heathrow's head of engineering for T1 and the man who is overseeing the dismantling of a national institution, said at the time: "This is a historic building and it is sad to see it go. T1 is iconic but Heathrow needs to expand.

"There is a lot of nostalgia about it and we are aware of that but we want to improve the passenger journey and Heathrow is changing for the better. T1 has a unique place in passenger aviation and it is a bit eerie to walk around it now when there is no one around.

"These halls and corridors were once full of passengers and staff but now there is barely a sound."

The terminal has been closed for almost two years and only emergency lighting illuminates the vast areas where passengers mingled in excitement or trepidation as air travel came within reach of the masses.

A skeleton engineering crew has been dismantling the fixtures and the former check-in zone for El Al flights to Israel has become a makeshift holding area for goods that will be sold on.

A collection of red fire extinguishers jostle in front of disused check-in desks near a neatly stacked section of toilet bowls and urinals.

Flight monitors, waste bins, medical screens, foam mats from the children's play area and even Christmas decorations are being stored till they find a new home.

"It has been a huge logistical effort but we do not want to dump these fittings as they are perfectly good and there are airports around the world that will be able to use them," Mearns added.

"There is talk of an entire check-in area being dismantled and shipped to a new airport where it will be installed just as it was at Heathrow. The configuration worked so well that they want to replicate it exactly.

"The whole programme is about doing this safely, quickly and at the least cost so we have employed a company to sell on what is left."

The terminal building is stripped back to basics.

The Tin Goose pub, where you could get a reasonably priced burger (£7.50) before flying, is empty with only a retro world map hinting at the excitement that ran through customers about to go on holiday or business trips.

The coffee shops that once competed with each other for trade are deserted, the noisy baristas long gone and their proud signage limp and gathering dust.

Shelves, once jammed with books and cigarettes, are empty.

The polished reception desks of the exclusive airport lounges no longer bask in mood lighting and welcoming staff.

The toughened glass window of a small bureau de change has been removed and the office where a range of exotic currencies were handed out is populated only by a discarded swivel chair.

"It can be a bit spooky walking through here at night with so many reminders of what the terminal was like yet it being dead quiet," adds Mearns.

"This is a unique job and I feel privileged to be a part of history but also part of the airport's future as it will continue to grow as T1 comes down."

The Vanguards are a distant memory as extra taxiway space is being created to allow double decker Airbus A380s - with 525 seats and a 260ft wing span - to pass each other on the way to and from the northern runway as Heathrow aims to regain its crown as the world's best airport.