GSK moves to new headquarters in return to central London

Pharmaceutical giant GSK is set to move its global headquarters back to central London, ending more than two decades at its Brentford base.

Around 3,000 staff will work at the Earnshaw building, on the corner of New Oxford Street, from Tuesday.

It marks the end of its tenure at the Brentford site in west London after the £315m building was officially opened in 2002 by then Prime Minister Tony Blair.

GSK’s new headquarters will house the company’s leadership team – led by Chief Executive Dame Emma Walmsley – as well as units supporting research and development, supply chain, commercial operations, corporate functions and its HIV specialist joint venture ViiV Healthcare.

GSK returns to central London, where the company has its roots in Plough Court Pharmacy, founded in the city in 1715.

When announcing the new global headquarters in December 2022, GSK said the six-storey building would be designed with hybrid working in mind, including technology to support remote working, and would aim to be energy efficient to help achieve the company’s net zero targets by 2030.

Dame Emma said at the time: “We are proud to call London our home and look forward to the opportunities for even closer collaboration with the city’s world-class scientific, academic and healthcare institutions.”

It has agreed to sell its site at 980 Great West Road, Brentford, in 2021 to London-based regeneration specialist Hadley.

GSK recently flagged its decision to move its global headquarters to London as a sign of its commitment to Britain and a UK listing, at a time when the London Stock Exchange is under pressure from a number of companies defecting overseas.

Dame Emma told the Times CEO Summit last month that the group was “unequivocally, 100% committed” to maintaining its UK listing, despite the UK accounting for just 3% of its business.