Compass Centre is an office building on the grounds of London Heathrow Airport

London Heathrow Airport

London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...

 in the London Borough of Hillingdon

London Borough of Hillingdon

The London Borough of Hillingdon is the westernmost borough in Greater London, England. The borough's population was recorded as 243,006 in the 2001 Census. The borough incorporates the former districts of Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Hayes and Harlington and Yiewsley and West Drayton in the...

. The building serves as BAA Limited's head office. Compass Centre previously served as a British Airways

British Airways

British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...

 flight crew centre.

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. In August 1992 on-site construction began. The building was completed 15 months later. 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. A £75,300 refurbishment of the head office was completed in September 2009, after BAA Limited moved into the building.

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." It was designed to house up to 800 British Airways

British Airways

British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...

 employees. British Airways wanted a large, on-airport facility close to its operations, so it decided to use the Compass Centre.

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. The building can accommodate sub-letting and flexibility involving several tenants. 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, because glass has little radar interference, and in the words of McGuire, can be "acoustically efficient." The design limits heat gain and solar glare, and the building environment is sound-proofed.

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

External links

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