SIS Building

The SIS Building or MI6 Building at Vauxhall Cross houses the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service , the United Kingdom's foreign intelligence agency. It is located at 85 Albert Embankment in Vauxhall, a south western part of central London, on the bank of the River Thames beside Vauxhall Bridge. The building has been the headquarters of the SIS since 1994.

The SIS had previously been based at Century House, a 22-storey office block on Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth, near Lambeth North and Waterloo stations. The location of the headquarters was classified information, though The Daily Telegraph reported that it was "London's worst-kept secret, known only to every taxi driver, tourist guide and KGB agent". Century House was described as "irredeemably insecure" in a 1985 National Audit Office report with security concerns raised in a survey; the building was made largely of glass, and had a petrol station at its base. Security concerns combined with the remaining short leasehold and cost of modernising the building were important factors in moving to a new headquarters.

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