22 Shad Thames

22 Shad Thames is a Grade II listed office building with showroom and penthouse flat, built between 1988 and 1991 to designs by Michael Hopkins and Partners. It was originally commissioned by designer and manufacturer David Mellor, and was subsequently acquired in 1996 by Sir Terence Conran as a headquarters, resulting in minor alterations.

The building is constructed from an in-situ fair-faced reinforced concrete frame clad with glass, steel and lead. The southern stair tower is built from structural flanged steel plates bolted together. It comprises six storeys plus basement, with a three-bay wide and four-bay deep exposed concrete frame flanked by narrow recessed service bays. The building occupies a prominent position with its street elevation facing Shad Thames to the west and overlooking the quayside at St Saviour's Dock to the rear (east).

The ground floor originally functioned as a showroom but has been converted to a subdivided reception area for the offices, with a raised display area to the rear. The upper floors contain three storeys of open-plan offices with some meeting room subdivision, followed originally by a two-storey penthouse with a double-height central hall, set back to create roof terraces to front and rear. This penthouse is now used as a staff recreation area. A free-standing single bay to the south contains the main stairs and lift, while another concrete-framed bay to the north houses plant, kitchens, lavatories and a concrete escape stair. The shallow plan permits natural ventilation, with services chiefly cast into the concrete floor slabs.

The front and rear elevations are defined by slender fair-face concrete columns supporting four floor slabs. The street elevation is recessed half a bay behind pilotis, providing a covered walkway over the pavement (the circular lights in the soffit are replacements). Both front and rear elevations are fully glazed, with plate glass walls to the ground floor showroom set on shallow concrete plinths. The ground floor entrance comprises fully glazed double doors with circular metal handles and a transom. The upper floors feature full-height horizontal sliding windows in aluminium frames, with those to the fifth storey having functional industrial-style metal balconies and metal balustrading to the penthouse roof terraces.

The exposed flank walls are faced with lead-panel infill set on hidden steel frames, with a vertical row of glazed panels on the southern wall. The recessed northern service tower is clad in tall steel plates. The free-standing southern tower is constructed of large, grey-green coloured flanged steel plates. This tower stands on a concrete plinth and is separated from the main building by a raised passage containing six open-tread concrete steps with a tubular polished steel handrail leading to the street. At the end of the passage is the glazed main office entrance, connected to the stair tower by glazed bridges on each level except the fifth floor.

At the front of the building, the fifth-floor terrace originally had a glazed conservatory which was replaced with a replica and subsequently removed. To the rear, the ground floor terrace overlooks St Saviour's Dock and retains its original tubular-steel balustrade.

Internally, the double-height ground floor showroom space, now containing a reception area, circulation space and two meeting rooms at the lower level, is divided by concrete columns and separated by a concrete platform to the rear. This features the original open-tread stair with marble treads and metal balustrade with glazed panels. The floor retains original marble tiles, though the lights are later replacements. The showroom extends out to the rear terrace.

The three office floors are open plan with later partitioning to form meeting rooms on the first and second floors. The concrete ceilings have been painted white on these two floors, with what appear to be original round ceiling lights.

The former duplex apartment features a double-height central lobby lit by a replacement pitched skylight and overlooked by galleries. Accommodation was principally arranged on the fourth floor with additional accommodation and front and rear roof terraces accessed via a curved cantilevered stair with solid balustrade at one end of the lobby. This stair is probably a later modification, as original plans show a centrally placed spiral stair. All partitions and original fittings to the flat were removed in early 2021. The concrete stair in the north tower retains its original polished tubular steel handrails.