Compass Centre

Compass Centre
The Compass Centre, when it was a British Airways facility

Compass Centre is an office building on the grounds of London Heathrow Airport in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The building serves as BAA Limited's head office.[1][2] Compass Centre previously served as a British Airways flight crew centre.[3]

Contents

History

The Compass Centre was originally conceived as speculative offices for Lynton plc, which was the property development division of Heathrow Airport Ltd. British Airways was a prospective but not necessarily a sole tenant. The airline decided to consolidate its scattered operations into the Compass Centre.[4] In August 1992 on-site construction began. The building was completed 15 months later.[5] When London Heathrow Terminal 5 opened on 27 March 2008, British Airways staff, including crew check-in staff, relocated from the Compass Centre to Terminal 5.[6] A £75,300 refurbishment of the head office was completed in September 2009, after BAA Limited moved into the building.[7]

Location and design

The Compass Centre was designed by Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners, which designed the core, external works, and shell of the building. Compass Centre is alongside but slightly askew from Heathrow's northern runway, with the Northern Perimeter Road and several long-term car parks between the runway and the Compass Centre. In 1995 Penny McGuire of The Architectural Review said that "Its shining glass and bright blue clad exterior reminds you, particularly when seen glowing at night, that one of the largest and busiest airports in the world is otherwise encumbered with a really grim collection of buildings. Decent ones are a rare sight around here."[4] It was designed to house up to 800 British Airways employees. British Airways wanted a large, on-airport facility close to its operations, so it decided to use the Compass Centre.[5]

Compass Centre consists of a linear arrangement of three blocks. Each block is serviced independently and has a glass atrium with glass links in between. The design stems from a client's request for a building that could be easily divided between tenants.[4] The building can accommodate sub-letting and flexibility involving several tenants.[5] Reinforced concrete was used to construct the structural frame due to economy, fire resistance, and speed. The frame has a raked roof slab and circular columns. Glass was the primary material used to construct the shell,[4] because glass has little radar interference,[5] and in the words of McGuire, can be "acoustically efficient."[4] The design limits heat gain and solar glare, and the building environment is sound-proofed.[5]

The British Council for Offices awarded the building the "Best Delivered Workplace."[5]

References

  1. ^ "Contact us." BAA Limited. Retrieved on 27 February 2010.
  2. ^ "BAA offices." BAA Limited. Retrieved on 2 October 2010. "BAA Head Office The Compass Centre, Nelson Road, London Heathrow Airport, Hounslow TW6 2GW."
  3. ^ "BA Recruitment." British Airways. 3 March 2006. Retrieved on 2 October 2010.
  4. ^ a b c d e McGuire, Penny. "Northerly approach - British Airways PLC's Compass Center at the Heathrow Airport." The Architectural Review. March 1995. Retrieved on 2 October 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Combined Operations Centre (Compass House)." Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners. Retrieved on 2 October 2010.
  6. ^ Paylor, Anne. "T5 Prepares to Go Live." Air Transport World. 1 March 2008. Retrieved on 2 October 2010.
  7. ^ "Project: BAA Compass Centre." Graphic Image Solutions Ltd. Retrieved on October 2, 2010.

External links

  • Website of Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners - Includes a profile of the building

Coordinates: 51°28′51″N 0°28′08″W / 51.4809°N 0.4689°W / 51.4809; -0.4689


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Centre Party (Jersey) — Infobox Jersey Political Party party name = Centre Party party articletitle = Centre Party (Jersey) party party wikicolourid = CPJ logo name = Centre Party Logo leader = Democratic chairman = Roger Benest ceo = Darius Pearce foundation = 2005… …   Wikipedia

  • Compass Theatre — The Compass Theatre Address Glebe Avenue City London …   Wikipedia

  • Compass (think tank) — Compass is a centre left[1] pressure group, aligned with the UK Labour Party describing itself as An umbrella grouping of the progressive left whose sum is greater than its parts . Compass differs from a classic think tank in that it is a… …   Wikipedia

  • Compass-G1 — Major contractors CAST Bus DFH 3 Mission type Navigation Launch date 16 January 2010 Carrier rocket …   Wikipedia

  • Compass-IGSO1 — Major contractors CAST Bus DFH 3 Mission type Navigation Launch date 31 July 2010 Carrier rocket …   Wikipedia

  • Compass-1 — Operator Fachhochschule Aachen Bus 1U CubeSat Mission type Remote Sensing/Imaging Technology Demonstration Launch date 03:53:51 GMT, 28 April 2008 …   Wikipedia

  • Compass Point — may refer to: Compass point, a direction on a traditional compass Compass Point (David Allan Coe album) Compass Point Shopping Centre, a shopping mall in Singapore Compass Point Studios, a studio in Nassau, Bahamas This disambiguation page lists… …   Wikipedia

  • Compass Point Shopping Centre — Coordinates: 1°23′32″N 103°53′43″E / 1.39222°N 103.89528°E / 1.39222; 103.89528 …   Wikipedia

  • Compass — This article is about the direction finding instrument used in navigation. For other uses, see Compass (disambiguation). A simple dry magnetic pocket compass …   Wikipedia

  • Compass and straightedge constructions — Creating a regular hexagon with a ruler and compass Construction of a regular pentagon Compass and straightedge or ruler and compass construction is the construction of lengths, angl …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”