Mace supports Sky Central with design and sustainability development

Sky Central, one of the developments of Sky's wider headquarter campus expansion, was recently completed. Mace provided a range of services to the development process, as well as consulting for key sustainability features – including the BREEM 'Excellent' standard. The building further focuses on improving collaboration, through flow design, between the more than 3,500 staff.

Sky is a UK headquartered telecommunications company, which provides a range of media services to more than 20 million customers across 5 countries. In a bid to improve its corporate headquarters, to, among others, create additional added value, the company launched a transformation project. The transformation initiative consists of the development of 41,000 square metres of mixed-use office, a studio hub, a health and fitness centre for staff, as well as a 3,600-square metre timber frame building which will house the Sky Academy.

One of the major buildings in the transformation project is Sky Central. The building is home to 3,500 people of the more than 7,500 staff on the campus. The new space is developed in such a way as to improve the flow of people between departments and teams within the company, allowing for additional channels through which collaboration and venturing can take place.

One of the parties that worked on the development of the new space is Mace, a professional services firm. The advisory firm provided a range of services to the development – including an initial review of the buildings’ internal space, allowing for improved collaborative working conditions between the architect and structural engineers.

In addition, the consultancy and engineering firm brought the new development up to BREEM ‘excellent’ standard, in line with Sky's wider sustainability goals. Sustainability features include the installation of a rainwater harvesting system, solar panels and high-efficiency lighting to minimise energy consumption. The firm also sought to reduce the concrete load, focusing on adding timber features that reduce the overall carbon foot-print of the construction process – electing to install 400 roof light cassettes in timber instead of concrete.

Mace has been under the commission of Sky since 2013, with previous work including the realisation of a transformed Sky Campus in Osterley, in west London. The Sky Central project has been three years in the development.

Graham Barter, Mace's Project Director at Sky, says, “Working on Sky Central has been a pleasure and great learning experience. The team worked hard together in response to the evolving brief and the project requirements for the highest level of safety, quality and delivery. Everyone who worked on the project brought a proactive, collaborative and open approach to the delivery of Sky Central. We took a flexible and sustainable approach to this project and the building is now an impressive structure on Sky’s campus which reflects its business of ‘finding a better way’.”

“Sky Central’s design provides Sky colleagues and visitors with an inspiring and energising environment in which to work and meet. The use of vast open floor plates, large atria and mezzanines with a multitude of interconnecting ramps and stairs provide a unique experience", comments Andrew Jackson, Construction Project Manager at Sky.