Stockley Park Offices

Stockley Park was Britain's first architecturally driven business park. Masterplanned in the 1980s on a site strategically located close to Heathrow Airport and the M4 and M25 motorways, within 40 minutes of central London, it includes buildings by a number of leading British architects.

When the practice first began working for industrial clients in the 1960s, most industrial estates in Britain represented the lowest common denominator of design. The idea of improving the workplace, either by providing better amenities or by eliminating barriers between management and workforce, was seen as unnecessary, if not subversive. Stockley Park demonstrated just how radically ideas had changed over the intervening twenty years.

Set at the southern end of the site, overlooking a lake, the building designed by Foster and Partners provides 12,000 square metres of office space. It is designed to house a single tenant but can easily be subdivided to suit multiple occupancy.

The scheme had to fit within design parameters set by Stockley Park's management, which specified pitched roofs, white cladding and sunscreening. Each of the building's three stepped bays are fronted by V-shaped steel 'butterfly' frames, pinned at the ridges and supported on tapering columns. These frames support the roof over each three-storey bay and extend 3 metres over the long elevations to support louvred sunscreens. Between the bays two triple-height atria run the length of the building and carry the primary circulation.

The building is oriented to maximise views across the lake to the east. The main entrance is located in the middle of the three halls on the northern facade, shaded by an overhanging canopy. Plant and services are stacked at the southern side of the building to reduce solar gain. The long east and west elevations are made up of double-glazed units. Their internal face is stove enamelled to reduce solar gain with a white 'frit' varying in concentration from almost opaque at floor and eaves level to clear between desktop and eye level.

Client: Stanhope Properties
Consultants: Ove Arup and Partners, Davis Langdon and Everest, Ove Arup and Partners, Foster Associates