London County
Council South Bank Development Plan
"Shell Centre "
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Mr. I. J. Hayward, Leader of the London County Council, held a Press conference at the Festival Hall early in October and released details of the Council's scheme for the permanent development of London's South Bank. He revealed to the conference agreement to allot to The Shell Pe- troleum Company Limited a 199 year lease of approximately five acres of the site, for the erection of an office block to serve as Shell's London head- quarters.
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Adjacent to Waterloo, one of Lon- don's largest railway stations, South Bank, on which the Festival of Britain Exhibition was held in 1951. is well known to most visitors from overseas. The future of this area, part of which is at present being used as a temporary terminal for British European Airways, has aroused in- tense public interest in this country for some time. Many alternative sug- gestions have been made as to the form its development should take and the buildings it should comprise. Ideas
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A view of the London County Council model looking across the river. This photograph in- dicates the place of “Shell Centre" in the plan. Between the two bridges lies the Royal Festival Hall. To the right (in backround) is Waterloo Station. "Shell Centre" is immediately in front of the station. The National Theatre - on the bank of the River Thames - is adjacent to the London County Council offices, which are on the right of the model.
have ranged from Government offices, be incorporated within the site to be national theatres and air terminals developed by Shell. Auxillary facilities to public gardens and helicopter at "Shell Centre" will include under- bases.
ground car parking, direct escalator service to Waterloo Station and foot- The London County Council De-
bridges connecting the offices, the velopment Plan provides for the hotel and the station. The terms of building of a National Theatre, hotel the lease also permit the construction and a permanent Air Terminal for of conference halls, shops, restaurants British European Airways. It also and a private cinema. proposes that the air terminal will
Another view of the London County Council model looking across the river. This photograph clearly shows that the 250 ft. high tower of "Shell Centre" will become one of London's landmarks. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament can be seen on the right of the picture and the juture Waterloo Station is to the left of "Shell Centre".
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The Company has not yet drawn up its own architectural plans, but the London County Council's scheme provides for an executive block some 25 storeys high, with the remainder of the accommodation in three wings, each 11 storeys high. Thus the build- ing will be one of the tallest in Lon- don, and its tower-rising some 250 feet above ground-will become one of London's landmarks-in this res- pect rivalling the 200 feet Shell-Mex House tower which it will face across the River Thames.
It will inevitably be a few years be- fore this Development Plan is com- plete, but it is the Company's inten- tion to make of "Shell Centre" a block of offices sufficiently large to accom- modate all the London headquarters staff. At present the large number (about 5,500) of employees involved compels the use of no less than 20 different buildings in the City and West End of London. Best known of these is St. Helen's Court in the City. which has served as London main office for the past 40 years.
Mr. Howard Robertson, M.C., A.R.A., S.A.D.G., who is the President of the Royal Institute of British Architects and who is also well-known for his work in France and the U.S.A., has been appointed advisory architect to Shell.
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