Rouse Kent Ltd

The building was built speculatively for Rouse Kent, and was straight away taken by Rhône-Poulenc Rorer as its UK headquarters. It is clad entirely in glass - opaque white, green through-tinted, neutral solar-reducing and clear - to give a cool, crisp, "European" character.

The main stairs within the glazed enclosures at the ends of the building feel reassuringly safe, and give excellent views alternating between the distant Kent countryside and back into the building's central atrium.

"This is a building that has been designed and built with great care and thought. The architects have avoided the pitfalls of the building type by regarding 50 Kings Hill Avenue as a large house set in a landscaped park, producing a work that reflects their concerns for rigour and craft."
Malcolm Parry, Architecture Today, February 1997