Skipton House is a high specification office building in

Elephant and Castle Elephant and Castle is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station of the same name. The n ...

, Central

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It was built for a Japanese bank and then sold on to accommodate staff of the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...

who were moved out of Alexander Fleming House. The project architect was Paul Cayford. Its address is 80 London Road SE1 6LH, next to the

Bakerloo line The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that runs between in suburban north-west London and in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs par ...

entrance to

Elephant & Castle tube station Elephant & Castle is a London Underground station in the London Borough of Southwark in Central London. It is on the Bank and Monument stations, Bank branch of the Northern line, between Borough tube station, Borough and Kennington tube stati ...

. It was opened by

Virginia Bottomley Virginia Hilda Brunette Maxwell Bottomley, Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, (née Garnett, born 12 March 1948) is a British Conservative Party politician and headhunter. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons from 198 ...

, who was then

Secretary of State for Health The secretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as the health secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department of Health and Social Care. The in ...

, on 15 February 1993. Its floor area is . From outside, the two outstanding characteristics are the dark brown marble cladding and the impressive entranceway. Inside, there is a large glass-topped central atrium, with the second to sixth floors having balconies. When the

Information Centre for Health and Social Care NHS Digital was the trading name from 2016 of the Health and Social Care Information Centre, which was the national provider of information, data and IT systems for commissioners, analysts and clinicians in health and social care in England, p ...

was created on April 1, 2005, its London office was in Skipton House. It has since moved to

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, West Yorkshire. Furthermore, during 2005 substantial numbers of Department of Health staff were moved in from nearby Eileen House and Hannibal House where those leases had expired. In 2011 a further tranche of Department of Health staff were moved in from nearby New Kings Beam House. It is the headquarters of the NHS Counter Fraud Authority. Image:Skipton_House_side.jpg, The marble cladding

Redevelopment plans

Plans were approved in 2016 to demolish Skipton House as well as the adjacent hostel and

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

Perry Library to make way for a mixed-use development designed by

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...

containing high-end flats, offices and restaurants. The plans were subsequently withdrawn due to a lack of agreement between the landowners and in 2019 a new planning application was submitted to re-clad and add six more storeys to the existing building. The application was referred back to

Southwark London Borough Council Southwark London Borough Council, also known as Southwark Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Southwark in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour major ...

by the

Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the Metonymy, metonym City Hall, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved Regions of England, regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political ...

on the basis that it "does not comply with the London Plan and the draft London Plan". The GLA suggested possible remedies including contributing towards the cost of a new

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

station, the developer submitted an updated plan to

which approved it in November 2020 and the plans now await approval by the Mayor of London.

References

External links

* National government buildings in London Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Southwark {{London-struct-stub