Bringing Sky’s complex concept to life

The brief from Sky was to develop their creative concept and deliver a brand new, one-off world-class digital store in Nottingham, UK Sky wanted to give shoppers an immersive, content-rich experience that would show off the very best of their brand and make a memorable statement in the shopping centre. Sky is an iconic brand, and the final execution had to uphold that status.

The project was made more challenging by the need for a long lifespan which made the correct choice of construction materials and processes absolutely vital to the success of the project. We needed to make sure that whatever we chose captured the essence of the Sky brand – delivering both a high-end premium finish and practical durability while keeping within a clear budget and providing good ROI. In addition to all this, we had to meet the complex shopping centre material regulations enforced by the landlord, Intu.

Our combined experience and expertise in technical engineering and build analysis was instrumental in ensuring efficient component production and assembly for all pre-site work, which crucially, minimised the onsite build time. We used a huge range of highly technical, complex and cutting-edge techniques in production, and together with meticulous planning and management, we brought together almost 5000 components to deliver a flexible and visually stunning build.

We faced significant engineering and execution obstacles due to the sheer size and weight of the unit: at 5.5 x 3.3 x 4.6m tall with 24mm-thick glass panels, the Engage Plus weighs in at an impressive 4400kg. To overcome this, we designed and built a steel structure that was buried 140mm into the shopping centre floor and chemically bolted directly to the concrete slab to provide enough support for the huge unit. Even with this challenge, we achieved an 8-night installation through a detailed and carefully coordinated time management programme.

We delivered an iconic solution and an incredible customer experience to Sky, on time and on budget – giving them an impressive end solution that met and exceeded their requirements.