Government Offices Great George Street

The Eastern end of Government Offices Great George St, from Parliament Square, Westminster

Government Offices Great George Street ('GOGGS') is a large UK government office building situated in Westminster between Horse Guards Road, Great George Street, Parliament Street, King Charles Street and Parliament Square.

Description

The western end of the building, on Horse Guards Road, is known as 1 Horse Guards Road ('1HGR') and is occupied by HM Treasury, UK Export Finance, Government Internal Audit Agency, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, Office of the Leader of the House of Lords and parts of the Cabinet Office. Major refurbishment of 1HGR added floor space which allowed, in 2002, the entire Treasury staff to be housed within it. This was first time the Treasury was in the same building since 50 years before.^[1]

The headquarters of HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport occupy the Parliament Street end, referred to as 100 Parliament Street.

The basement houses the Churchill War Rooms, a branch of the Imperial War Museum.

GOGGS is a grade II* listed building,^[2] meaning it is of "exceptional interest and of outstanding importance". It was described by the Victorian Society as an early monument of the Edwardian Baroque Revival.^[3]

History

GOGGS was designed by John Brydon following a competition.^[4] Construction took place in two phases: the West end was completed in 1908 and the East end was completed in 1917.^[4] It was originally built as offices for Board of Education, the Local Government Board and the local Ministry of Works Office; HM Treasury moved into the building in 1940.^[4] A major refurbishment of the building was completed under a PFI contract by Bovis Lend Lease in 2004.^[5] Foster + Partners together with Feilden and Mawson were the architects for the refurbishment.

By the end of 2004 HM Revenue and Customs was relocated into 100 Parliament Street from Somerset House. In 2013 Northern Ireland Office, UK Export Finance and Department for Culture, Media and Sport moved into 1 Horse Guards Road and 100 Parliament Street respectively.^[6][7] In 2015 1 Horse Guards Road became the headquarters for Government Internal Audit Agency.

Recent appearances

An aerial shot of the building is used in the TV series Spooks to accompany a sub-title portraying it as the Home Office – therefore serving as stand-in to match the distinctly period appearance of the fictitious Home Office accommodation interiors the series uses, rather than the far more modern real Home Office headquarters at 2 Marsham Street.

The character James Bond is seen in a courtyard of GOGGS in the movie Spectre. The building serves as MI6 headquarters after terrorist attack on SIS Building in Skyfall.^[8]

References

1. "History: 1 Horse Guards Road". Gov.uk. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
2. "Name: NEW GOVERNMENT OFFICES (HM TREASURY) AND ARCHWAY LINK WITH FOREIGN OFFICE AT EAST END OF KING CHARLES STREET NEW GOVERNMENT OFFICES AND ARCHWAY LINK WITH FOREIGN OFFICE AT EAST END OF KING CHARLES STREET : List Entry Number: 1066103". Heritagegateway.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
3. "Don't just look at the bride, look at the buildings!". The Victorian Society. 2011-04-28. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
4. "History of 1 Horse Guards Road". Gov.uk. Retrieved 2016-09-25.
6. "Northern Ireland Office moves into the heart of Whitehall". Gov.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
7. "DCMS is moving". W4mp.org. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
8. "Spectre film locations (2015)". Movie-locations.com. Retrieved 2016-09-25.

Coordinates: 51°30′6″N 0°7′42″W / 51.50167°N 0.12833°W