location: The Strand, London

year: 1991

client: Shell UK Ltd

design: Richard Horden Associates

In 1991 Richard Horden Associates won a competition to design a new building for Shell UK, which would complete Shell Mex House, the company’s stone-clad 1930s headquarters off the Strand in central London. The proposal includes a large entranced atrium with glass lifts and glass bridge links, and provides the building with a new ‘front door’ onto the Strand. The light surface architecture would help lighten the drab, north facing elevation. The work includes improvements to the Strand and the Shell Centenary Bridge as a link to the South Bank.