Reuters Data Centre

The Reuters Data Centre, located in the industrial hinterland of London’s Docklands, houses sophisticated computer equipment which processes data for the news agency. Separate from the main building is a free-standing pavilion with curved glass prow and metal brise-soleil, containing a health club and staff restaurant.

The main 28,000 m² building was intended as the first phase of an office scheme around a restored 19th-century graving dock near the Isle of Dogs. The building stands directly opposite what is now the site of the Millennium Dome. The other three phases of the development have yet to be built. The building requires a high degree of artificial servicing. The internal space is divided between offices and plant rooms filled with computers, and is designed to accommodate future rearrangement and heavy machinery. An interchangeable cladding system of solid and glazed panels reflects the interior’s inherent flexibility.

Lifts and staircases are concentrated in perimeter towers, with main plant placed at roof level and services distributed downwards through internal cores. Cranes are made into features and colour is used to denote the building’s various functions.