BSkyB Studios Wind Turbine, London

BSkyB Studios Wind Turbine, London

Sector:
Commercial
System:
Proteus SC
Architect:
Arup

Satellite TV studios hailed as Europe’s greenest are being partially powered by a designer wind turbine whose mast is clad in perforated Proteus SC panels.

The 100kW 55m “Northwind 100” turbine at Sky’s £233million state-of-the-art headquarters is expected to produce approximately 133,100kWh per year or up to 60% of the studio’s annual office lighting requirement, with the carbon payback being slightly over two years.

The site houses high-intensity functions including data centres and recording, post-production and transmission facilities for Sky’s broadcast and sports news departments.

The elongated triangular pyramid mast coils upwards in a twisting motion, tapering at the top, thus architecturally expressing the rotational dynamics of the turbine. Its mast is clad in 1,600m2 of anodised aluminium Proteus SC panels to a design in alliance with Wintech-Group that met a hat-trick of requirements – aesthetic, ecological and structural.

The Proteus design team worked with Wintech on a solution for the design and positioning of the turbine’s single-skin panels using a Proteus installation system. Wintech then created a bespoke piece of software to model the façade construction and automate the production of each of the individual 200 façade panels and ancillary components. The perforations were designed to enable fastening points on the vertical sub-structure to be covered.

This process of automating the production of 3D complex geometry façades and that can produce detailed manufacture information provided significant benefits including a greatly reduced design programme and a substantial reduction in design costs. The software output provided individual files that were used by a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) punch to perforate and shape each individual panel, avoiding the need for any interpretation of design information.

The turbine operates in conjunction with biomass-fired cooling and heating power (CCHP), naturally ventilated studio and office space, rainwater harvesting and energy-efficient lighting. It was estimated to offset the equivalent amount of CO2 as driving 370,000 miles in a typical petrol-powered car each year and is currently exceeding expectations, delivering significant energy at low wind speeds.

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Perforated Aluminium Cladding
  • Perforated Aluminium Cladding
  • Perforated Aluminium Cladding
  • Perforated Aluminium Cladding