
sky central
London, UK
sky central
London, UK
sky central
London, UK
Following a successful competition submission, we were commissioned to design the interior and develop the exterior for Sky’s flagship new main building at their West London campus.
Sky Central’s identity reflects the fast-paced and ever-evolving nature of broadcasting and telecommunication and the building brings nearly 3,500 employees together into a single community. We wanted the dynamic facility to enable a wide variety of working styles in a flexible, efficient and future-proofed manner and we worked closely with our client to develop a unique programmatic distribution throughout the building.
The unique and high-quality design promotes collaboration and efficient task-based working while encouraging encounter and interaction among staff throughout the organisation. Despite its size, the building embraces the individual thanks to the creation of distinct neighbourhoods that help to humanise its scale. At the building’s heart, a central atrium sits with an elevated and transparent live broadcast studio above. A long central street runs out from this, connecting the main entrances and forming a spine along which a series of workspaces, dining spaces, informal meeting areas, a cinema and support facilities have been placed.
Client
Sky UK
Interior Concept and Project Delivery
PLP Architecture
Building Concept
AL_A
Workplace Design
HASSELL
Structural and Building Engineer
Arup
Facility
Office Headquarters including Communal Breakout Spaces,
Restaurants, 200 Seat Cinema and Live Broadcast Studio
Size
37,700sqm GIA
Status
Completed

Awards
2017 BCO Awards Best of the Best
2017 BCO Awards Corporate Workplace
2017 AJ Awards Best Workplace of the Year
2017 FX Design Awards UK Project of the Year
2017 NLA Awards Best Built Workplace Sky Central winner
2017 Construction News Awards Project of the Year over £50m (Shortlisted)
2017 Offsite Awards Commercial/Retail Project of the Year (Shortlisted)
2017 Offsite Awards Best use of timber (Shortlisted)
2017 Mixology Awards Large Commercial Interiors Project of the Year
2017 Estates Gazette Awards (Shortlisted)
2016 Timber Structure Awards (Shortlisted)


A variety of stairs and ramps join all these spaces, with multiple routing options available to help encourage journey variation throughout the building. This augments the sense of discovery and passive interaction and allowing both ideas and people to flow and interweave continually.
Extensive use of timber in the design allowed for significant offsite prefabrication and a reduced programme with less site wastage during construction. This is coupled with significant natural daylight, which filters in throughout the interior, promoting a sense of health and wellbeing among staff and visitors.
Our work for Sky also included an examination of the wider masterplan for the entire campus, focusing on landscape design and future building development parcel massing options. Project phasing and planning was developed while working closely with the main contractor to consider temporary solutions as new buildings were completed and ensure the entire campus remained safe and operational during construction works.










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