Carnival House is a landmark office building in the city of

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is a purpose-built headquarters for

Carnival UK Carnival Corporation & plc is a British-American cruise operator with a combined fleet of over 100 vessels across 10 cruise line brands. A dual-listed company, Carnival is composed of two companies – Panama-incorporated, US-headquartered Carniv ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

operating company of

Carnival Corporation & plc Carnival Corporation & plc is a British-American cruise operator with a combined fleet of over 100 vessels across 10 cruise line brands. A dual-listed company, Carnival is composed of two companies – Panama-incorporated, US-headquartered Carniv ...

, the world's largest cruise shipping company. The building was officially opened on Sunday 19 July 2009. Carnival House contains the head offices of

P&O Cruises P&O Cruises is a British cruise line based at Carnival House in Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. It was originally a subsidiary of the shipping company P&O and was founded in 1977. Along w ...

and

Cunard Line Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...

. It also houses the UK offices of

Princess Cruises Princess Cruises is an American cruise line owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. The company is incorporated in Bermuda and its headquarters are in Santa Clarita, California, Santa Clarita, California. As of 2021, it is the List of cruise lines# ...

, (headquartered in Santa Clarita, California) and

Seabourn Seabourn may refer to: * Seabourn Cruise Line, American cruise line * Bert Seabourn (1931–2022), American expressionist painter See also * Seaborn Seaborn is a given name and a surname. Notable persons with that name include: Persons with the ...

Holland America Line Holland America Line is an American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from 1873 to 1989, it operate ...

(headquartered in Seattle, Washington). In addition Carnival Corporation's new build division is based in the building.

Architecture

The building's five storeys, each named after a sea or ocean, contain of office space between them, with a full-height atrium of linking them together. The office space is open plan with separate rooms for private meetings, each named after a port the company serves and decorated with glazed navigational charts. Prior to the construction of Carnival House the company's five brands, Cunard, P&O Cruises, Ocean Village, Princess and Yachts of Seabourn, each had separate headquarters buildings. The senior architect aimed to create "a collective identity for the new headquarters whilst also allowing each of the five brands to maintain their own distinct identity." The distinctive wave patterns on the two panels of the building facade represent propagation of oceanic

Rossby waves Rossby waves, also known as planetary waves, are a type of inertial wave naturally occurring in rotating fluids. They were first identified by Sweden-born American meteorologist Carl-Gustaf Arvid Rossby. They are observed in the atmospheres and ...

and were created by using real satellite data (sea surface height anomaly data from satellite altimetry) provided by Paolo Cipollini and Peter Challenor of the

National Oceanography Centre The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is a marine science research and technology institution based on two sites in Southampton and Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the UK’s largest institution for integrated sea level science, coastal and d ...

, Southampton.

Statistics

*Houses approximately 1,118 employees *Brings together staff from five buildings in the city

References

{{coord, 50.90153, N, 1.40946, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title

Carnival House Carnival House is a landmark office building in the city of Southampton, Hampshire, England. It is a purpose-built headquarters for Carnival UK, the United Kingdom operating company of Carnival Corporation & plc, the world's largest cruise shipp ...

Buildings and structures in Southampton Carnival Corporation & plc Commercial buildings completed in 2009 HOK (firm) buildings Corporate headquarters