Sky Central Workplace

Global media company Sky asked us to bring our most progressive, international design thinking to their game-changing London HQ – a 45,000 sqm, three-level workplace for more than 3,500 employees. 

Drawing on years of workplace design experience (and a swag of awards), our interior designers worked with Sky and industry partners to pull together this super-flexible, multi-connected space. 

Yes, it’s enormous – with floors as wide as three jumbo jets. But Sky Central never feels overwhelming or impersonal. Well-defined ​‘neighbourhoods’ break up the space so it’s naturally easy to use, and touches like a circular lounge, banquette seating and planter boxes bring the comfort and warmth of home (or hotel) to the office. 

Now Sky has an HQ to match the energy and ambition of their workforce – and their business.

Client

Sky

Location

London, UK

Status

Completed

Year

2016

Scale

45,000 sqm

Collaborators

AL_A, PLP Architecture

Design team

Felicity Roocke, Catherine van der Heide, Hannah Beveridge, Kaja Swiezewska, Kam Dhiman, Tiago Arieira, Colin Hockley, Simona Bielskyte, Go Sugimoto, Josh Cain, Despina Kalapoda, Julia Chang, Sheena Molloy, Tom Ayers, Giang Le, Celia Moreno Marcos, Chris Chesters

Imagery

Mark Cocksedge

“Working with Hassell gave us privileged access to leading edge design experience, thinking and benchmarking from Australia, where people-centric, activity-based schemes on this scale have led the way for many years.”

Neil Usher, Workplace Director, Sky
5K places to gather
2.5K desks
80 meeting rooms

Sky Central Workplace was designed to provide healthy, uplifting indoor spaces that enable maximum flexibility and future resilience.

Highlights include:

  • All internal elements were deliberately modular and freestanding, without connection to the ceiling and walls. This ensured they were movable – without requiring the removal of materiality –­ as the needs of the business changed. This was the case post-pandemic when Sky implemented a hybrid working policy. 
  • A human-centred approach to design reflected through ​‘neighbourhoods’ and diverse work zones, an abundance of indoor greenery (seven plants per employee) and natural light create a bright, comfortable and active interior that promotes employee wellness and productivity.

2017 British Council of Offices Awards – ​‘Best of the Best’ winner (national)

2017 British Council of Offices Awards – ​‘Corporate Workplace’ winner (national)

2017 World Interiors News Awards – ​‘Workplace Greater Than 10,000sqm’ winner

2017 British Council of Offices Awards – ​‘Corporate Workplace’ winner (London region)

2017 New London Architecture Awards – ​‘Workplaces’ winner

2017 AJ Architecture Awards – ​‘Workplace of the Year’ winner

2017 Estates Gazette Awards - ​‘Creative Spaces’ winner

2017 Mixology17 Awards – ​‘Large Commercial Interior Project of the Year’ winner (London region)

2017 FX International Interior Design Awards – ​‘Best UK Project’ winner

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