Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
SHELL cENTRE<br />
ThE viSiON FOR ShELL CENTRE TAKES ShAPE<br />
The <strong>Shell</strong> Centre site is set to go through an<br />
exciting redevelopment project to improve<br />
the public, cultural and retail offering on<br />
the Southbank.<br />
Why redevelop? <strong>Shell</strong> Centre is 50<br />
years old and ways of working have<br />
changed dramatically; you only have to<br />
watch the You Tube video of <strong>Shell</strong> Centre<br />
life in the 60s (www.youtube.com/<br />
watch?v=8zUQD1p9bXY ), to see long thin<br />
corridors, cellular offices and completely<br />
different technology from what we use<br />
today. <strong>Shell</strong> needs a modern open plan<br />
office environment to best support the<br />
business and no longer requires rifle ranges<br />
or hairdressing salons in the building!<br />
Following an extensive evaluation<br />
process, <strong>Shell</strong> has signed an agreement<br />
with Braeburn Estates to redevelop the<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> Centre site, excluding the Tower<br />
building, which has been refurbished in<br />
the last few years.<br />
Braeburn Estates is a joint venture between<br />
Qatari Diar and Canary Wharf Group –<br />
two world-class developers with a strong<br />
track record of delivering projects in London<br />
that help enhance and regenerate local<br />
areas. Their proposal replaces the outdated<br />
24 | <strong>SPA</strong> NEWS<br />
wing buildings with a mix of office,<br />
residential and retail buildings to deliver new<br />
interest and activity on this important site.<br />
Towards the end of last year 1,700 staff<br />
moved out of <strong>Shell</strong> Centre to Canary Wharf<br />
and The Strand to allow the redevelopment<br />
to begin. A massive recycling operation<br />
has been completed to empty the wings,<br />
which included moving 8,500 pieces of<br />
furniture, 2,100 keyboards, 1,670 monitors<br />
and 340 printers. Business critical IT routes<br />
and equipment, along with utilities, are<br />
being relocated to the Tower basement to<br />
ensure the Tower continues to operate<br />
before, during and after the redevelopment.<br />
Jubilee Gardens has been totally rebuilt<br />
and landscaped, part-funded by <strong>Shell</strong>, to<br />
a high standard with granite paving, an<br />
adventure playground, seating and colourful<br />
flower beds.<br />
Timescales Braeburn Estates has been<br />
consulting with the local community and<br />
key stakeholders to actively involve all<br />
interested parties in the initial ideas and<br />
planning process. It is anticipated that<br />
around the end of <strong>2012</strong> the detailed<br />
planning applications will be submitted,<br />
with permission granted late 2013 to<br />
mid 2014; shortly thereafter demolition<br />
and redevelopment will commence. The<br />
project is expected to complete sometime<br />
in 2017/18.<br />
What will it look like? As well as<br />
owning and occupying the Tower building,<br />
<strong>Shell</strong> has agreed to lease another 210,000<br />
sq. ft. of new office space on the site. This<br />
will allow the company to bring its entire<br />
London workforce of around 3,500 staff<br />
together on the Southbank.<br />
The new <strong>Shell</strong> office will be located on the<br />
south east corner of the site, facing York<br />
Road and Chicheley Street. The design will<br />
complement the portland stone of the Tower,<br />
and the building will step up from four floors<br />
on Chicheley Street to 10 floors, where<br />
new bridge links will connect it directly to<br />
the Tower. There will be several large roof<br />
gardens incorporated into the new office<br />
layout. The public realm will consist of<br />
covered walkways connecting the new<br />
building to the Tower.<br />
The remaining area on the site will provide<br />
a mix of offices, retail and restaurant outlets,<br />
a new public square and more than 650<br />
homes. The redeveloped site will be<br />
serviced from below ground where there<br />
will also be limited car parking and space<br />
for 1,000 bicycles.<br />
Just to the east of York Road new plans have<br />
also taken shape for the redevelopment of<br />
Elizabeth House (between <strong>Shell</strong> Centre and<br />
Waterloo station), which if approved later<br />
this year will also help to improve the area.<br />
This scheme by a different development<br />
group will provide two new public squares<br />
linking Waterloo Station to York Road. Plans<br />
for the <strong>Shell</strong> Centre site integrate fully with<br />
the Elizabeth House proposal and improve<br />
pedestrian links through the <strong>Shell</strong> Centre<br />
site to the South Bank and Jubilee Gardens.<br />
The ideas extend to providing improved<br />
pedestrian usage of Chichley Street and<br />
Belvedere Road through ‘shared surfaces’<br />
along the lines of the highly acclaimed<br />
project in Exhibition Road.<br />
I am interested to see how the ideas<br />
progress and once built how much the<br />
homes sell for, but doubt I will be able to<br />
afford one of the new riverfront apartments.<br />
helen Page<br />
Change<br />
of PLR<br />
Viv Perry, Pensioner Liaison Representative<br />
for Cardiff & Swansea, has been replaced<br />
by Peter Rees. Peter started in distribution,<br />
before covering various field-based jobs,<br />
including commercial fuels, lubricants and<br />
retail sales, in both the company and dealerowned<br />
markets. Tel: 01792 362334
Change language