GSK announces new global headquarters in central London

  • Location offers closer proximity to UK capital’s fast-growing global Life Sciences hub, Knowledge Quarter and world-class academic institutions
  • Building and location will help GSK achieve ambitious sustainability targets
  • Company to open new headquarters in 2024

GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) today announced that its new global headquarters will be in central London. The company will move to the new headquarters in 2024 from its current location in Brentford, West London.

The site (currently known as the Earnshaw), which is under construction and scheduled for completion next year, was selected by the company following a comprehensive search of potential new HQ sites across London. It offers close proximity to the UK capital’s fast-growing global Life Sciences hub, London’s Knowledge Quarter, and GSK’s existing collaboration partners including the Francis Crick Institute and King’s College London. On the corner of New Oxford Street and Earnshaw Street, the headquarters’ design and excellent public transport links will support the company’s commitment to sustainability.

Emma Walmsley, CEO, GSK said: “Our new headquarters represents an important next step for GSK. As a global biopharma company, we are proud to call London our home and look forward to the opportunities for even closer collaboration with the city’s world-class science, academic and healthcare institutions. Our new headquarters will provide a fantastic new focal point for GSK people to meet, collaborate and ultimately deliver solutions for the urgent healthcare challenges facing the world.”

The new global headquarters will be the base for around 3,000 people, who will continue to use a hybrid working model. This includes GSK’s global leadership team, as well as teams supporting research and development, the supply chain, commercial operations, corporate functions and ViiV Healthcare. The choice of central London offers easy access to GSK’s global R&D hub in Stevenage, as well as closer proximity to the company’s Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Hub in King’s Cross.

The move marks a return for GSK to central London, from where the company can trace its origins to the Plough Court Pharmacy, which was established in the City of London, in 1715.

The company is now working with specialist architects with experience of designing accessible, inclusive and sustainable workspaces to shape the building’s design. The new headquarters will be designed for collaboration and powered by technology which supports effective hybrid working. The development is targeting a BREEAM Outstanding rating, the highest accreditation available, with a focus on energy consumption, health and wellbeing and reduced CO2 through procurement and construction, helping the company to achieve its ambition to have a net zero impact on climate by 2030.

The sale of GSK’s existing global headquarters site at 980 Great West Road, Brentford, was announced last year and is progressing. An update will be provided at a later date.