| Eighty Strand | |
|---|---|
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 The south side of Eighty Strand, facing theVictoria Embankment andRiver Thames in 2014 | |
 Interactive map of the Eighty Strand area | |
| General information | |
| Location | Strand, London, England |
| Opened | 1932 |
| Owner |
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| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 12 |
| Website | |
| eighty-strand.co.uk | |
Eighty Strand, formerlyShell Mex House, is agrade II listed building located at 80Strand, London, England.[1] The building was opened in 1932 on the site of theHotel Cecil and stands behind the originalfaçade of the hotel, between theAdelphi building and theSavoy Hotel. BroadlyArt Deco in style, it was designed by Frances Milton Cashmore of the architectural firm ofMessrs Joseph.
Standing 58 m (190 ft) tall, with 537,000 sq ft (49,900 m2) of floor space, Eighty Strand has 12 floors (plus basement and sub-basement) and is immediately recognisable from theRiver Thames and theSouth Bank by the clock positioned on the south side of the building. The clock is flanked by four large,hieratic marble figures at the south corners sculpted by William Charles Holland King.[2] The clock, which was known for a time as "Big Benzene", has the largest clock faces in the UK, at 7.62 metres in diameter,[citation needed] just 0.02 metres more than the clocks on theRoyal Liver Building inLiverpool; it was supplied byGillett & Johnston ofCroydon. The building faces the river and the Strand. It was described by architectural historianNikolaus Pevsner as "thoroughly unsubtle, but...hold[s] its own in London's river front."
The building was for many years the London headquarters ofShell-Mex & BP, for which it was built. Shell-Mex & BP was ajoint venture company created byShell andBP in 1932, when they decided to merge their United Kingdom marketing operations.[3] Upon the UK marketing separation of Shell and BP in 1976, Shell Mex House became the head office of Shell UK, which was Shell's UK operating company. Changes in the way that Shell was run in the 1990s led to the disposal of the property by Shell. Today, simply known as Eighty Strand, most of its floors are occupied by companies belonging toPearson plc.
The entrance of the building, which is set back from the Strand, is through a large gated archway. A green plaque was affixed to the wall just inside the gate in March 2008, proclaiming: "TheRoyal Air Force was formed and had its first headquarters here in the former Hotel Cecil on 1st April 1918". Below it is a brass plate stating: "This plaque was unveiled by the Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal SirGlenn Torpy to mark the 90th anniversary of the formation of the Royal Air Force".[4]
DuringWorld War II, the building became home to theMinistry of Supply, which coordinated the supply of equipment to the national armed forces. It was also the home of thePetroleum Board, which handled the distribution of petroleum products during the war. It was badlydamaged by a bomb in 1940.
The building reverted to Shell-Mex & BP on 1 July 1948, with many floors remaining occupied by theMinistry of Aviation (latterly the Board of Trade, Civil Aviation Division) until the mid-1970s. During this time, until the department's move to the present location inFarnborough, the building was also the headquarters for theAir Accidents Investigation Branch.[5]
On 17 May 2006,The Times reported that the building was for sale and that the Indian-Kenyan Kandhari family was the front-runner in the battle to buy it from the existing owners,Vincent andRobert Tchenguiz.[6] The Kandharis were said to have offered £530 million for the building, but they were competing with other interested groups, including Menorah, the Israeli insurer, an Irish company, and several British companies. An offer believed to be for £520 million ($1.02 billion) was made in December 2006 by Istithmar, the investment agency of the Dubai government, which withdrew its offer before completion. The property was subsequently sold in July 2007 to a fund managed by Westbrook Partners for £988 million.[7]
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51°30′35″N0°07′17″W / 51.50981°N 0.12133°W /51.50981; -0.12133
