One Great George Street

One Great George Street

One Great George Street, is a building in London, England that is the global headquarters of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). Its location is in the heart of Westminster, just off Parliament Square. The building was orginally a venue for ICE members to relax, meet and have conferences, but the facility became available for public events in 1989. Recent visitors include Tony Blair, David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Michael Schumacher, James Dyson, David Tennant and Princess Michael of Kent.

Building and history

From 1839 until 1913, ICE occupied numbers 24-26 Great George Street. In the mid 1880s the government proposed re-development of the area around Great George Street to provide more office space for government departments. This meant the demolition of ICE's first location and lead ICE to a move its headquarters across the road to numbers 1-7.

One Great George Street was built for ICE between 1910 and 1913 and was the result of an architectural competition won by James Miller, RSA (1860-1947). This elegant and historical building has been described as a "monumental neo-classical design" and a "modern rendering of the late Renaissance". The exterior, foyer and staircase are made of Portland stone and many of the rooms are ornately decorated with French walnut and oak panelling, carved plaster ceilings and elaborate crystal chandeliers.

There are 19 rooms of varying size and style available for meetings, conferences, dinners, receptions, filming and weddings. Each room has been named after civil engineering’s most important contributors and the venue is adorned with original artwork of those key figures. The ICE's art collections include works from Wylie, Lucas and John Everett Millais and is the world's largest collection of portraits of civil engineers. The ceiling of the Great Hall has a painting that commemorates the work of civil engineers in World War I.

Between 1987 and 1991 the venue was modernised to make better use of the space with a new theatre added along with another three rooms to the lower ground floor and a suite of smaller meeting rooms and business centre in the basement level. The facility is accessible for wheelchair users and has other access-friendly equipment, such as induction loops. A new entrance lift being constructed in August 2007 will make this venue even more accessible

Significant events

One Great George Street has hosted many historical events and served as a location for the filming of movies and television.

Historical

• Signing of the charter establishing UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), 1945
• Butler Review press conference, July 2004
• Group of Seven manifestos, 1990s
• Labour Party manifestos, 1990s

Films

• Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, 2004
• Ghandi, 1982
• Bean, 1997
• Hattrick, 2007
• Starter for Ten, 2006

TV Series

• Spooks (numerous episodes)
• Foyle's War
• In Deep
• Between The Lines
• Kavanagh QC
• Silent Witness

See also

• Houses of Parliament
• London Eye
• Westminster Abbey
• HM Treasury

Access

Easily accessible by public transportation, this London Conference venue is in a central location near the Westminster tube station. The Westminster tube station is on the Jubilee, Circle and District lines. In addition, the major railway stations of Victoria and Waterloo are a short tube or taxi journey or about a 15 minute walk.

External links

• One Great George Street Official Site
• Institution of Civil Engineers
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