The site selected, on the south bank of the River Thames, had been occupied by a large warehouse known as "Willson's Wharf",[3] which was badly damaged in a fire in August 1971.

[5] The new building was designed by the Property Services Agency[6] in the modern style, built in yellow brick at a cost of £12.6 million,[7] and was opened in 1983.

[8] The design involved a broadly symmetrical three-storey main frontage facing south onto English Grounds.

It featured a long flat portico which was projected forward and supported by brick columns; it was fenestrated by small square casement windows on the ground floor and by rectangular casement windows on the first and second floors, and there was an additional, taller block behind the main frontage.

A Royal coat of arms was mounted on the left hand side of the main frontage at first floor level.