Waterside (building)

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The Waterside building in Harmondsworth, London Borough of Hillingdon, England, is the international headquarters of the airline British Airways. The building, which cost 200 million British pounds,^[1] is located on Harmondsworth Moor, northwest of London Heathrow Airport and located between the M4 motorway and the M25 motorway.^[2]

It is a novel design comprising six limestone-clad four-storey horseshoe-shaped buildings which all back on to an internal 'street' that runs inside an atrium. The street is paved in granite slabs and cobblestones, has bridges which cross it overhead, linking the individual buildings, and is looked over by balconies which lead off the bridges. The street houses a health centre, hairdressing and beauty salon, florists, travel centre, Waitrose supermarket, bank, restaurants and a 400-seater auditorium.^{[citation needed]}

The 9,000m² gross internal area is mostly open plan offices; no personal space is assigned, although enclosed areas are available for meetings and study. (Although initially no personal places were assigned, in practice, departments have specific locations in the buildings with seat allocations, the overwhelming majority of people sit at the same desks everyday and those desks, and the surroundings, contain their personal ephemera just as in any conventional office. "Hot Desks" - those specifically not allocated for an individual - are infrequent and clearly marked.)^{[citation needed]}

Construction started in September 1995. The project also involved clearing and landscaping the site which was derelict to create a large public park and nature reserve, with a visitor centre.

The building opened December 1997 to May 1998. The first section of the public park was opened in June 1998, with the remainder in 1999. Construction costs were £17.4m

The architects were Niels Torp, supported by RHWL . The Building Services Engineers were Cundall Johnston and Partners, the Structural Engineers Buro Happold and the Construction Managers MACE .

Waterside is located at 51°29′08″N 0°29′10″W / 51.48556°N 0.48611°W / 51.48556; -0.48611.

[edit] Awards

• Civic Trust Awards 2000, Winner
• National Lighting Design Awards of Excellence 2000, Winner
• RIBA Best of British Awards 1999, Winner
• British Council for Offices 1999, Winner
• British Construction Industry Award 1998, Winner

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Case study on BA Waterside at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) – accessed November 2006.
• Cundall Civil engineers - accessed January 2007