Minerva House

Minerva House
Minerva House c. 1985
Location within London Borough of Southwark
Etymology	Minerva, Roman goddess of wisdom and sponsor of arts, trade & strategy
General information
Status	Completed
Location	Southwark, 5 Montague Close, London SE1 9BB, UK
Coordinates	51°30′25″N0°05′24″W / 51.506844°N 0.089897°W / 51.506844; -0.089897
Current tenants	Winckworth Sherwood LLP and Ipsos Mori
Topped-out	1983
Owner	Great Portland Estates
Technical details
Material	Yellow brick
Floor count	Six
Design and construction
Architecture firm	Twigg, Brown & Partners

Minerva House was built between 1979 and 1983 as the London office of Grindlays Bank with Twigg, Brown & Partners as architects. ^[1] The yellow brick building features narrow windows between closely paired piers. ^[1] It sits on the south bank of the River Thames just west of London Bridge.

History

The site

An extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:1,250 map of London sheet TQ3280SE published 1952 showing New Hibernia Wharf and environs

Cartographic sources show that the site has previously housed:

• The Close of the nearby Southwark Cathedral since the 14th century ^[2]
• Hibernia Wharf since at least 1888 ^{[2] [3]}
• New Hibernia Wharf since at least 1947 ^[4]

Sales

Down a column to the Thames

Minerva House was sold for around £42 million in 2005 ^[5] and for £60 million in 2012. ^[6]

Use

Main entrance c. 1986

Following the acquisition of Grindlays by Standard Chartered Bank in 2000, the building was refurbished during 2006 ^[7] and is had mixed use with 103,686 square feet (9,632.7 m²) of office space over six floors and thirty four flats ^[8] in 11,900 square feet (1,110 m²) of residential space. ^[6] In 2022 works redevelopment of the building began that include partial demolition works with the retention of the existing structural frame and partial facade replacement, a 3-storey extension of the existing building to create a building up to 9 storeys, incorporating additional office floorspace, new external roof terraces and new public realm landscaping at ground level. ^[9]

Owners

The current owners are Great Portland Estates ^[6] . Previous tenants prior to the redevelopment works included Winckworth Sherwood LLP, TUI, ^[6] Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and Wandle Housing Association Ltd.

References

1. Stephen Richards. "Riverside, London Bridge". Geograph Britain and Ireland.
2. "Side by Side viewer - Explore Georeferenced Maps". National Library of Scotland.
3. "Side by Side viewer - Explore Georeferenced Maps". National Library of Scotland.
4. "Side by Side viewer - Explore Georeferenced Maps". National Library of Scotland.
5. "Minerva House sold for ｣42 million". London SE1.
6. "Buildings". Buildington.
7. "Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, SE1 9DF, London: City". Jones Lang LaSalle. Archived from the original on 25 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
8. "Property details for Flat 7 Minerva House 6 Montague Close London SE1 9DF". Zoopla.
9. "Minerva House". UKGBC. Retrieved 9 February 2026.