St George's House (also known as the Nestlé TowerorNestlé Block) is a 79-metre (259 ft) office tower located in Croydon, United Kingdom. It was occupied by the Swiss multinational food and consumer goods company Nestlé as the headquarters of Nestlé UK & Ireland until September 2012.[1]
The tower was designed by architects Ronald Ward and Partners, who also designed Millbank Tower, and it was completed in 1964.[2]
The eastern entrance to St George's Walk shopping arcade is located at the base of the tower and the ground floor also housed the Greyhound, which, as well as fulfilling the functions of a town centre public house, became well known as a music venue. Later known as the Blue Orchid nightclub, the venue closed in 2004.[3]
The building's Nestlé branding
In January 2012, Nestlé announced that it intended to move the headquarters of Nestlé UK & Ireland to City Place Gatwick, with all 840 employees based at St George's House moved to Gatwick by the end of 2012.[4][5]
The Croydon council agreed in February 2013 to switch the use of the building from offices to housing.[6] Architect firm EPR Architects was hired to redesign the building.[7] However, in September 2015, no work was done to advance on the housing project, leading London property developer Minerva to buy the tower for £10 million to incorporate in a wider neighbourhood housing project.[8]
In November 2018, work began to convert the tower into three high-rise apartment blocks as well as to demolish part of St George's Walk, to create a new public square (Queen's Square) adjacent to the old Town Hall.[9]
1 Currently manufactured by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. 2 Brand owned by General Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license. 3 U.S. production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 4 U.S. rights and production owned by the Smarties Candy Company with a different product. 5 U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. 6 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. 7 Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland. Produced by Post Foods elsewhere. 8 Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. 9 Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned by Fraser and Neave. 10 Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. 11 Used only in the Philippines. 12 U.S. production rights owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. 13NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019. 14 Brand owned by Mars, sold by Nestlé in Canada. 15 Produced by Froneri in the U.S. since 2020.
