Continuing our recognition of best projects amongst our Leaf winners over the 20 years, the Best Project 2017 recognised with a Judges’ Commendation.

Sky Central by IGD now Nurture Landscapes Ltd

Sky Central is the new 45,000m2 flagship building at the heart of its 13 hectare campus headquarters in West London. Over 3,500 employees work here across three levels of the building, designed to promote flexibility and openness to encourage the flow of people and ideas across the business.

The architecture boasts a large triple height atrium above the bustling 100 metre long Sky Street that runs the entire width of the ground floor. Sky Street acts as a connector for the whole building, bringing together touchdown workspaces as well as informal working elements alongside amenities ranging from restaurants and cafes to a supermarket and a 200 seat cinema. Biophilia was imperative in the design of the building of which interior planting was fundamental.

A series of neighbourhoods across each floor were designed with ‘home zones’ planted extensively to help shape quiet areas for individual working, without breaking the sense of connection to the more vibrant, active spaces. Two large atrium spaces with artificial Olive trees and Bamboo encourage people to come together and meet in a park-like atmosphere.

The client wanted to utilise mixed planting to act as waypoints; they also wanted to move away from traditional corporate planting styles and embrace an informal, relaxed style with mixed texture and colour within each display. Most of the planters were custom made for the scheme.     

      24,776 plants were used, ranging in size from 3cm tall to 3.75m tall
    • 128 tonnes of compost, mulch and drainage materials
    • 102 trolleys used by transport companies to deliver the plants (each trolley could have as many as 350 plants)
    • 65 varieties of plants were used over the scheme; 44 artificial trees from 2.5m – 3.75m tall
    • The oldest plant used on site is a large double stemmed Ficus panda which is 35 years old

Judge’s comment
It is a truly stunning and monumental installation. The enormous number of plants was incredible. Special mention should be made of the large grove of mature Olive trees, made from real aged trunks with artificial foliage. These were incredibly realistic and looked real until you were inches from the foliage. This is one of the most impressive sites I have ever seen. It was really well thought out and a remarkable piece of work.

Greg Redwood, Head of Glasshouses at Kew