GSK is moving its global headquarters closer to where it all started.
The UK drugmaker is formally shifting Tuesday into a brand new building at the corner of New Oxford Street in central London’s so-called ‘knowledge quarter.’ The company previously spent around two decades in Brentford — a suburb in Greater London — which is a one-hour drive from its new building called The Earnshaw.
The new headquarters will house about 3,000 staffers, including key executives such as CEO Emma Walmsley. The 11-storey building will host R&D activities, supply chain, commercial operations, corporate functions and the company’s specialist HIV unit ViiV Healthcare.
The pharma company’s history dates back more than three hundred years ago, starting with Plough Court pharmacy in London. The pharmacy later became Allen & Hanburys, which was acquired by Glaxo Laboratories in 1958 before launching its first asthma medicine in 1969.
Allen & Hanburys in London
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GSK detailed its relocation plans in December 2022, just six months after it officially divested its consumer health unit Haleon. In 2021, GSK agreed to sell its Brentford headquarters, which opened in 2002, to property development group Hadley.
The company’s new 158,000-square-foot building is located in the heart of London, with the Wellcome Trust and the Francis Crick Institute both a stone’s throw away. AstraZeneca and BenevolentAI offices are also nearby, as well as GSK’s own artificial intelligence and machine learning hub. It has easy access to transport hubs that would connect GSK to Oxford and Cambridge.
Before deciding on The Earnshaw, GSK had considered a total of fifteen buildings in London, without even considering moving offshore, according to a report in The Times. Last month, Walmsley told The Times that GSK staying in London signified its commitment to the UK and a London listing.