Bush House Centre Block with flanking colonnades is a Grade II listed building in the Westminster local planning authority area, England. Office building. 3 related planning applications.
Bush House Centre Block with flanking colonnades
- WRENN ID
- lapsed-attic-finch
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Westminster
- Constituency
- Cities of London and Westminster MP: Rachel Blake (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Type
- Office building
- Address
- Bush House Centre Block with flanking colonnades, Aldwych Wc2 and Strand Wc2, City of Westminster
- OS grid reference
- TQ 307 810
- Coordinates
- 51.51288, -0.11727
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Bush House Centre Block with flanking colonnades is a headquarters office building constructed between 1925 and 1935 by the American architects Helmle and Corbett. It is located on the south side of Aldwych, within the City of Westminster. The building is built of Portland ashlar on a steel frame, with slate roofs. Its design reflects a "big-business classicism" and forms a key part of the Kingsway vista.
The building is six storeys high, with an attic, and is three windows wide. The central bay features a full-height, coffered semi-dome, a large niche, and is screened by two monumental Corinthian columns supporting an entablature. This is surmounted by symbolic figures of England and America, sculpted by Malvina Hoffman. Plain outer bays contain flat-arched recessed metal casement windows. A broken pediment and recessed attic storey sit above. Flanking the centre block are three-bay colonnade screens. The Strand elevation presents a more restrained design, with a deep, central, straight-sided recess beneath the pediment and similar flanking colonnades.
Bush House served as the headquarters of the BBC World Service from 1940 to 2014, housing all of the BBC’s foreign language services. The British Broadcasting Corporation, formed as a Company in 1922 and later a public corporation by Royal Charter in 1927, has grown to become a globally recognised broadcaster, playing an important role in British life and culture.
Local climate
Bush House Centre Block with flanking colonnades sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 95% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 35 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2022
- Related listed building consents — 3 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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