Award-winning scheme completed in 2016

A flagship building built by Mace for broadcaster Sky in west London is having to be repaired because the roof is leaking, 黑洞社区 can reveal.

Called Sky Central, the 拢220m building, designed by Amanda Levete鈥檚 practice AL_A, was completed in 2016 and has been showered with a host of accolades including the BCO鈥檚 corporate workplace and Best of the Best awards for 2017.

In its citation for the Best of the Best award, the BCO said: 鈥淪ky Central defines a new model for the industry鈥檚 fast-paced and evolving future. The project exudes collaboration at every level and has achieved excellent post occupancy results.鈥�

It can fit around 3,500 employees and has been described as the centrepiece of the broadcaster鈥檚 13ha media headquarters in Osterley.

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Hundreds of rooflights have been fitted into the flat roof to flood the office space below with light

But 黑洞社区 understands the 41,000 sq m building鈥檚 flat roof has been plagued by a series of leaks with Mace set to start repair work later this year.

The roof includes more than 400 roof light panels with the roof itself supported by miles of laminated timber beams.

Mace has already gone out to the market to find a contractor to begin work shrouding the three-storey building in scaffolding with the cost of that job alone understood to be at least 拢15m.

One source said: 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 spend that much to do five grand鈥檚 worth of work. Otherwise, you go up and repair the roof yourself. This is a big repair job and it鈥檚 a big insurance claim.

鈥淭hey put a lot of rooflights on the roof to flood it with light inside. But flat roofs have a tendency to leak and it has a huge amount of rooflights and everyone of those will have a weak point which will be made even weaker on timber which tends to expand or contract more than concrete or steel.鈥�

The roofing contractor on the original job was Lindner Prater while others to work on the scheme included project delivery architect PLP, structural engineer Arup and QS Aecom.

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The building has been described as the broadcaster鈥檚 flagship at its Osterley campus

Derby firm B&K Structures also worked on the project, supplying and installing 7,500 linear metres of glulam beams and just under 16,000 sq m of large timber roof cassettes with pre-installed gutters.

According to its website, B&K said timber cassettes were chosen because of their ability to reduce airborne sound which was deemed essential because the building sits under a major Heathrow flight path.

As well as office space, Sky Central also includes studios and production facilities together with research and development zones and an energy centre.

Mace, which was main contractor on the scheme, declined to comment.

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