Shell Centre

Shell Centre
Shell Centre
	Shell Centre as seen from; the London Eye in 2004
	Interactive map of the Shell Centre area
General information
Location	London, United Kingdom
Construction started	1957
Completed	1962
Opened	1962
Owner	Shell plc
Design and construction
Architects	Sir Howard Robertson; Ralph Maynard Smith
Architecture firm	Easton & Robertson; Cusdin Preston & Smith
Main contractor	Sir Robert McAlpine

The Shell Centre in London is the global headquarters of oil major Shell plc. It is located on Belvedere Road in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a prominent feature on the South Bank of the River Thames near County Hall, and now forms the backdrop to the London Eye.

The original Shell Centre comprised the tower building and three now-demolished adjoining nine-storey wings (collectively formerly known as the "Upstream Building"). The original development also included the "Downstream Building", which had the same nine-storey slab block form but was separated from the Upstream Building by the railway viaduct between Charing Cross and Waterloo East.

Since 2004–05 to 2019–20 (2017–18 has 15 seconds, while 2018–19 has 59 seconds) a 60-second countdown has been projected onto the Shell Centre at 11:59pm every New Year's Eve as part of the Mayor of London's fireworks celebrations centred on the stretch of the Thames in front of the London Eye. After 2019–20, the countdowns are no longer projected on the Shell Centre.

The Downstream Building was disposed of by Shell in the 1990s. It has been heightened by one storey and is now a block of residential apartments known as the Whitehouse Apartments.