Sky Central | PLP Architecture

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 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, an atrium sits with an elevated and transparent live broadcast studio above. A 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.

A variety of stairs and ramps join all these spaces, with multiple routing options available to help encourage activity and journey variation throughout the building. This augments the sense of discovery and interaction and allows 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. The building was designed to WELL Certification standards though it did not pursue a WELL Certificate.

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 to ensure the entire campus remained safe and operational during construction works.