Carl

We’re thrilled to announce that Sky Central has won Best Workplace of the Year at the Architects’ Journal Awards and UK Project of the year at the FX Design awards, alongside AL_A and Hassell.

The Collective Old Oak features as part of the recently opened exhibition ‘New Urban Body’ at La Triennale di Milano, curated by Giordana Ferri of Fondazione Housing Sociale and designed by ETT SpA Solutions.

It is with enormous regret and great sadness that we inform you of the unexpected passing of our colleague, our mentor, and most of all, our great friend Gavin Eldred.

Many of us were fortunate to know and work with Gavin for many years. His breadth of knowledge, deep commitment to the craft of our discipline and his ability to bring buildings to life have enriched some of our most important and pivotal projects.

Our high rise in Stratford, the second building we have designed for the co-living startup Collective, was approved last night by the London Legacy Development Corporation. The building, a speculation on the future of housing and urbanism, proposes a vertical ecosystem of working, playing, creating and living.

Sky Central is a unique example of unconventional (workspace) design, efficient engineering and delivery combined to meet high aspirations around sustainability, flexibility and people wellbeing.

Lee Polisano, president and founding partner of PLP Architecture joined property entrepreneur David Rosen, Hon FRIBA and senior partner at Pilcher Hershman, to discuss how their projects have impacted London and to give their insights on the ever changing property and architectural landscape in London. Paul Finch, World Architecture Festival Director, moderated the event.

PLP was responsible for the Interior architecture of the new Sky Central Headquarters. Working together with workplace designer HASSELL, we conceived a design that promotes flexible, collaborative, task-based working. This flexibility was achieved through the creation across the vast floor plates, of multiple distinct neighbourhoods, linked together by the architecture of central mezzanines, stairs and ramps. This connective tissue encourages employees to take different routes around the office, allowing for unexpected and surprising interactions to occur naturally and act as a catalyst to internal business innovations.

The London Planning Awards is organised in partnership with the Mayor of London, London First, RTPI, Planning Officers Society and London Councils, to recognise and reward best practice in planning in the capital.

PLP Architecture joined CBRE and HOK as a key party to the Planning Performance Agreement agreed with Camden Council which enabled intensive consultation with key development and design officers from Camden and the GLA.

The Francis Crick Institute is the result of an unprecedented partnership between six of the world’s leading biomedical and academic organisations, bringing together multidisciplinary groups of researchers to develop ground-breaking research for the improvement of human health. PLP, working together with HOK, have designed the building to be highly interactive and open, with five floors of laboratories above ground specifically designed to promote interdisciplinary work. The Francis Crick Institute adheres to strong sustainability principles, setting a new standard for modern sustainable design. The building has achieved an Excellent BREEAM rating with a final score of 74% and has been designed to comply with Building Regulations Part L 2010.

In 2013, following an invited competition, PLP Architecture was commissioned to design the interior and develop the exterior for Sky Central – the main building of their West London campus.

The design brief required a building that would galvanise 3500 employees into a single community whose identity would reflect the fast-paced and ever-evolving nature of broadcasting and telecommunications.

PLP worked together with Sky to develop the content and programmatic distribution of the building.