South Gyle Offices, Edinburgh Office Building, Development, Architect

EHQ – South Gyle Office : Architecture

EHQ for PPG Lightning Limited – design by Michael Laird Architects

EHQ South Gyle

Office development, 6 South Gyle Crescent, South Gyle, Edinburgh, Scotland
Date built: 2008
Design: Michael Laird Architects

photograph © Paul Zanre

EHQ project: full set of photographs

Bold expressed metal ‘picture frames’ interrupt a rhythm of clear glazing and coloured Alucabond panels. The foot-deep picture frames are located asymmetrically across the facades – creating tension and working with the wraparound entry frames in the same material.

image by pixel image from Michael Laird Architects May 2006

This is the third building designed by MLA for the Premier Property Group, the others being high quality offices in Semple Street.

This speculative office development is located near Edinburgh Park on the western edge of Edinburgh. It involves the demolition of all buildings on the former BAe Systems site, except structure from one that will be reused. The site forms the gateway to the South Gyle business district from Edinburgh city centre.

A three-storey 10,200 sqm office building is to be built. The new £13m building will be arranged around a central courtyard to provide open plan office accommodation in nominal widths of 14 and 24 metres.

The external facade consists of curtain walling with elements of rainscreen cladding around core areas. The regular mullion grid is broken with randomly-located intermediate mullions that modulate the rhythm of glazing across the facade. The glazing rhythm is also staggered between floors and punctuated with coloured Alucabond panels, glazed into the curtain walling system. The slender mullion face caps are split between floors to give a light feel to the facade.

The new building is intended to form Phase One of a larger office development; a masterplan has been drawn up by MLA for the entire site.

Recent buildings by Michael Laird Architects on South Gyle Crescent – Building 38and Gyle Square – have gone a long way to augment the locality. Central to the development of the EHQ site is the intention to make a vibrant and relevant addition at the eastern gateway.

EHQ Professional Team
Developer Premier Property Group
Architect Michael Laird Architects
Project Manager Cyril Sweett Ltd
Structural Engineer PWP Consulting LLP
M&E Engineer Graham Mather Associates
Quantity Surveyor CBA
Transport Consultant Colin Buchanan and Partners
Landscape Architect EDAW plc

EHQ Edinburgh offices : Michael Laird Architects

Edinburgh Buildings

Jenners

Other Michael Laird Architects’ Edinburgh Projects:
East of Scotland Water
Royal Bank of Scotland Edinburgh

Premier Property Group Edinburgh Project : Semple Street