Strata SE1 SE1 Londoners' fifth favourite tall building, behind 30 St Mary Axe (The Gherkin), The Shard, The Leadenhall Building (The Cheesegrater) and One Canada Square (Canary Wharf). Strata SE1 Strata SE1, nicknamed "Razor" or "Electric Razor", is a , 43-storey building at Elephant and Castle in the London Borough of Southwark in London. Designed by BFLS (formerly Hamiltons), it is one of the tallest residential buildings in London and more than 1,000 residents live in its 408 flats. Strata SE1 is located on the site of Castle House, an early 1960s six-storey office building, which was the first commercial premises at
St. Helen's (skyscraper) Axe, in the City of London, which it desired to develop as its new headquarters. The site comprised adjacent properties in St Mary Axe and the former Shell building in Great St Helens. At the same time the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company was planning to redevelop its city offices in Leadenhall Street. Due to a number of issues affecting both sites, notably poor access to the Commercial Union site and the restricted width of the Peninsular and Oriental site, it was not possible to obtain planning consents that would optimise the amount of floor space desired by either