Liverpool office scheme scoops first ever BCO Test of Time Award

Shop Direct’s HQ Skyways House in augural winner at BCO National Awards

Article posted: 14 Oct 2011

Office space in Liverpool which is home to Shop Direct Home Shopping Limited, this week became the first ever winner of the BCO Test of Time award at an awards dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Tuesday night.

The new award, instigated this year to reward buildings that have proven themselves to live up to their original aspirations and intentions, was presented to Skyways House which was the national winner of the BCO Refurbished/Recycled Workplace Award in 2006 and which along with around 40 previous regional and national BCO Award winners (from that year and from 2007) were invited to apply, including the submission of post occupancy evaluations to demonstrate the effectiveness of the building in coping with occupancy requirements over time.

Skyways House, formerly a 1939 aircraft hangar at the original Liverpool airport and instantly recognisable from the black and white photos of the Beatles’ triumphant returns to their home city from global tours, was refurbished in 2006 to allow the centralisation of 1,500 workers into Littlewoods then, newly-unified Shop Direct division.

The building was designed to create an open working culture and improve communication in a flexible setting. At the time Littlewoods expressed its satisfaction with the building saying “The new HQ has 'radically improved' our business.”

The Airport is located outside of the main city centre, but the Skyways open reception area presents a vibrant, buzzy atmosphere, which delivers creative interaction between staff themselves and the organisation and its suppliers - who regularly visit to negotiate the Littlewoods Catalogue’s ever changing products. The original conversion still feels brand new and vibrant. The retail company synonymous with Liverpool has made the iconic building, where light floods down through the three floors from the Barnes Wallace designed roof, its home.

The Judges are certain that it will still feel the same in another five years’ time making this a worthy winner of the Test of Time Award. Other winners include office space in Central London, Northern Ireland, Sheffield, Northampton and Scotland.

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Posted by Jo