AstraZeneca Cambridge HQ: DISC Office Photos & Benefits

THE HEADQUARTERS · THE DISCOVERY CENTRE (DISC) · 2021

A glass disc built around a public courtyard

Herzog & de Meuron shaped The DISC as a triangular glass disc with rounded edges, resting on six glass boxes that hold the laboratories. A saw-tooth roof floods the upper floor with daylight, and the open courtyard in the middle is a reference to the historic colleges of central Cambridge. Inside, full-height glass walls make the science visible; the floors are natural stone at the entrances, rough-sawn oak on the main stairs and inner ring, and carpet in the offices. The conference centre, auditorium, café and restaurant all sit on the ground floor.

577,504 sq ft (53,652 m²) gross floor area
19,000 m² of laboratories
Design: Herzog & de Meuron
Executive architect: BDP
BREEAM “Excellent”
174 geothermal boreholes

Inside the DISC: atrium, stairs and open floors

Herzog & de Meuron arranged the labs and offices around a central atrium so people can see across the building; timber stairs and bridges link the floors.

Curved wooden stair rising along a glass wall — Staircase, 2023 · Photo: Hufton + Crow / Herzog & de Meuron

Long gallery with timber columns and glass walls — Gallery, 2023 · Photo: Herzog & de Meuron

Tall bright void with bridges between floors — Atrium, 2023 · Photo: Julien Lanoo / Herzog & de Meuron

Office floor seen from a balcony above — Office floor, 2023 · Photo: Hufton + Crow / Herzog & de Meuron

Boardroom with a large round wooden table — Meeting room, 2023 · Photo: Hufton + Crow / Herzog & de Meuron

The building on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus

The DISC sits at 1 Francis Crick Avenue on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus; its glass façade with a saw-tooth roof faces landscaped grounds.

Glass façade with a zigzag roof seen across tall grass — South side, 2023 · Photo: Hufton + Crow / Herzog & de Meuron

Building lit at night with a zigzag glass façade — At night, 2023 · Photo: Julien Lanoo / Herzog & de Meuron

Long low glass building beyond trees — From the park, 2023 · Photo: Hufton + Crow / Herzog & de Meuron

Aerial view of a triangular ring building — From the air, 2021 · Photo: Hufton + Crow / Herzog & de Meuron

Low glass building with a curved front — Central building, 2025 · FDV / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Facts: Herzog & de Meuron project page “430 AstraZeneca's Discovery Centre (The DISC)” · AstraZeneca press release “AstraZeneca unveils The Discovery Centre (DISC) in Cambridge” (Nov 23, 2021) · astrazeneca.com/our-company/our-locations/cambridge

The Discovery Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus

Building	Address
The Discovery Centre (DISC) — global headquarters and R&D centre	1 Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0AA, United Kingdom

Source: Form 20-F 2025 cover (address of principal executive offices) · astrazeneca.com/our-company/our-locations/cambridge · See them on the map ↓

ArchitectHerzog & de Meuron (partner in charge: Stefan Marbach)

Executive architect & engineersBDP

Construction managementMace

Gross floor area577,504 sq ft (53,652 m²)

Site214,255 sq ft (19,905 m²)

Levels / height4 levels · 65 ft (20 m)

UnveiledNovember 23, 2021

Cost£1bn

SustainabilityBREEAM Excellent · 174 geothermal boreholes · ground source heat pump

Source: Herzog & de Meuron project page (Building Data, Team) · AstraZeneca press release, Nov 23, 2021 · astrazeneca.com Cambridge page (BREEAM)

Office tour videos

The Discovery Centre (DISC): Unlocking the power of scienceAstraZeneca (official) · 2025 · YouTube ↗

**Inside The Discovery Centre (DISC) – RIBA Stirling Prize 2025 shortlist**Royal Institute of British Architects · 2025 · YouTube ↗

**AstraZeneca – The Discovery Centre: creating spaces for science & discovery**Mace (construction manager) · 2024 · YouTube ↗

Benefits (United Kingdom)

Maternity & adoption leave29 weeks

Up to 29 weeks on full pay; part can be shared with a partner as shared parental leave.

Pension11%

Pension allowance of 11% of base pay for the wider UK workforce (the Executive Directors get the same rate).

Share Incentive Plan1 free per 4

Buy shares with up to £150 a month; one Matching Share for every four Partnership Shares.

Sharesave£5–£500

Save £5 to £500 a month over 3 or 5 years, then buy shares at a price fixed at the start.

BonusAll-employee

Employees of participating UK companies are invited into a cash performance bonus plan.

Benefit choiceFlexible

Wellbeing benefit packages per country, with personal benefit choice where appropriate.

Cambridge extrasLocal perks

Free entry, exclusive access and discounts at local leisure attractions, plus campus events.

In the U.S.Retirement + PTO

Qualified retirement programs, paid time off, and health, dental and vision coverage.

Source: UK HR Policies – Family Friendly Policy (astrazeneca.com) · Annual Report & Form 20-F Information 2025 (Directors' Remuneration Report) · careers.astrazeneca.com/united-kingdom · job postings R-259809, R-258033

Why people stay: what AstraZeneca itself reports

86%Great place to work

86% of employees said AstraZeneca is a great place to work in the 2025 Pulse survey (2024: 84%); 88% said it is patient-oriented.

7,000Internal moves

Of 19,000 people hired in 2025, 7,000 were internal candidates and 12,000 came from outside.

5,800+Development programmes

More than 5,800 employees took part in a development programme in 2025.

51.5%Women in senior roles

Women fill 51.5% of senior middle management roles and above; half of the Board and half of the senior executive team are women.

3 daysIn the office, on average

AstraZeneca asks people to work, on average, at least three days a week from the office, while respecting individual flexibility.

SharesOwning part of the company

UK employees can buy shares monthly with matching shares, or save through Sharesave to buy at a fixed price.

Source: Annual Report & Form 20-F Information 2025 (People, Directors' Remuneration Report) · AstraZeneca job postings R-259809 and R-258033 (2026)

Who works here

Where they work · Dec 31, 2025 (≈ 96,100)

Emerging markets 38%Europe 35%US 19%Other 8%

Gender · 2025

Women 54%Men 45%

96,100

employees at the end of 2025

≈ 10,000

in the UK, from 70 countries

19,000

people hired in 2025

43

countries of origin at executive levels

Source: Annual Report & Form 20-F Information 2025 · astrazeneca.com Investor FAQs · careers.astrazeneca.com/united-kingdom

Pay at AstraZeneca

Median UK employee · total pay, 2025£100,000

Full-time equivalent total pay (base pay £73,000 plus benefits, bonus and long-term awards). The CEO's realised pay was 176 times this amount; excluding long-term incentives, 63 times.

Source: Annual Report & Form 20-F Information 2025, Directors' Remuneration Report (CEO and employee pay ratios)

Annual base pay by level · Gaithersburg, Maryland (US R&D centre)

Scientist$92,252 – $138,378

Associate Principal Scientist$138,393 – $207,589

Source: AstraZeneca job postings R-259809 and R-258033 (careers.astrazeneca.com, 2026). Base pay only; incentives on top. UK postings do not publish ranges.

Pay by ageNot published

AstraZeneca doesn't publish pay by age. The UK pay quartiles above are the closest official numbers.

Office history: from Södertälje and Mayfair to a glass disc in Cambridge

1913
Astra is founded in Södertälje, Sweden
Astra AB was founded in Södertälje by a group of doctors and apothecaries. Astra later opened R&D sites in Gothenburg (1954) and Lund (1955).
Source: astrazeneca.com, “Our history” timeline

Former Astra head office, Södertälje, 2012 · Apotekarn / CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
1926 / 1993
ICI, then Zeneca, in the UK
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was founded in the UK in 1926 and set up ICI Pharmaceuticals in 1957. In 1993 ICI demerged its pharmaceutical, agrochemical and specialty chemical businesses as Zeneca Group PLC.
Source: astrazeneca.com, “Our history” · Form 20-F 2025 (history of the Company)

Imperial Chemical House, Millbank, London, 2016 · Peter O'Connor aka anemoneprojectors / CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
1999
AstraZeneca is formed — head office at 15 Stanhope Gate, London
Astra AB and Zeneca merged on April 6, 1999 to form AstraZeneca PLC. Its annual reports from 2002 to 2009 give the principal executive offices as 15 Stanhope Gate, London W1K 1LN.
Source: astrazeneca.com Investor FAQs · Form 20-F 2002, 2007 and 2009 (cover page)

15 Stanhope Gate, Mayfair, 2019 · Spudgun67 / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
2010
2 Kingdom Street, Paddington
From the annual report for 2010, the principal executive offices are 2 Kingdom Street, London W2 6BD, in Paddington.
Source: Form 20-F 2010–2015 (cover page) · Form 20-F 2013, Exhibit 4.4

No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it.
2013
Cambridge chosen as the new global headquarters
AstraZeneca announced plans to invest around $500 million in a new, purpose-built facility in Cambridge, which would also become its new global corporate headquarters.
Source: Form 20-F 2012 (filed March 2013)

No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it.
2016
Headquarters moves to Cambridge
AstraZeneca relocated its global corporate headquarters to Cambridge in 2016; its annual reports since then give 1 Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus as the address.
Source: Annual Report 2019 · Form 20-F 2016 (cover page)

The new headquarters under construction, 2020 · D Wells / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
2021
The Discovery Centre is unveiled
On November 23, 2021 AstraZeneca formally unveiled The DISC, a £1bn R&D centre for more than 2,200 research scientists, designed by Herzog & de Meuron.
Source: AstraZeneca press release, Nov 23, 2021 · astrazeneca.com “Our history”

The Discovery Centre, 2021 · Photo: Hufton + Crow / Herzog & de Meuron

Map: how the headquarters moved

From a Swedish town south of Stockholm to Mayfair, then Paddington, and finally north-east to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, about 80 km from central London.

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1 · 1913Södertälje, Sweden — Astra AB founded
2 · 199915 Stanhope Gate, London — First AstraZeneca head office (Mayfair)
3 · 20102 Kingdom Street, London — Head office in Paddington
4 · 20161 Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge — Global headquarters; The DISC unveiled here in 2021

Addresses: astrazeneca.com “Our history” · Form 20-F cover pages (2002–2025) · Locations: OpenStreetMap

What AstraZeneca does

AstraZeneca discovers, develops and sells prescription medicines — cancer drugs above all, plus medicines for heart, kidney and metabolic disease, respiratory and immune disease, and rare diseases (through Alexion).

Reported by therapy area; the Group reports in US dollars.

Where the money came from · product sales by therapy area, 2025

OncologyTagrisso, Imfinzi, Calquence, Lynparza

$23.7B

Cardiovascular, Renal & MetabolismFarxiga and others

$12.8B

Rare DiseaseUltomiris, Strensiq (Alexion)

$9.1B

Respiratory & ImmunologyFasenra and others

$8.2B

Vaccines & Immune TherapiesSynagis, Beyfortus

$0.8B

Source: Annual Report & Form 20-F Information 2025, Business Review (Product Sales by Therapy Area)

Total Revenue, 2025$58.7Bup 9% in a year

Profit for the period, 2025$10.2BIFRS

R&D expense, 2025$14.2B24% of revenue

Revenue per employee$0.61M$58.7B ÷ 96,100

Source: Form 20-F 2025 (Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income) · R&D share and per-employee figure calculated by eciffo

Growth: revenue vs. people

2.6×revenue, 2017 → 2025
$22.5B → $58.7B

1.6×employees, same years
61,100 → 96,100

YearRevenueEmployees

FY2017

$22.5B

61,100

FY2018

$22.1B

64,600

FY2019

$24.4B

70,600

FY2020

$26.6B

76,100

FY2021

$37.4B

83,100

FY2022

$44.4B

83,500

FY2023

$45.8B

89,900

FY2024

$54.1B

94,300

FY2025

$58.7B

96,100

Calendar years. Total Revenue: SEC XBRL financial data from AstraZeneca's Form 20-F filings (US dollars). Employees: people employed at year end, Annual Report & Form 20-F 2019, 2022 and 2025. Multiples calculated by eciffo.

Chief executives

No free-to-use photo.

2012 – today

Pascal Soriot

Executive Director and CEO since October 2012. Previously COO of Roche's pharmaceuticals division and CEO of Genentech.

AstraZeneca was formed in 1999 by the merger of Astra AB (founded 1913 in Södertälje) and Zeneca Group PLC (demerged from ICI in 1993).

Source: astrazeneca.com leadership page · Annual Report & Form 20-F Information 2025 (Board biographies) · astrazeneca.com “Our history”

AstraZeneca's official social accounts

AstraZeneca's official accounts, as linked from astrazeneca.com.

LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/astrazeneca ↗X (Twitter)@AstraZeneca ↗Instagram@astrazeneca ↗Facebookfacebook.com/AstraZeneca ↗YouTubeyoutube.com/user/astrazeneca ↗

AstraZeneca: questions people ask

Where is AstraZeneca's headquarters?

At 1 Francis Crick Avenue on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0AA, United Kingdom — The Discovery Centre (DISC). The headquarters moved to Cambridge from London in 2016.

Source: Form 20-F 2025 · Annual Report 2019

Who designed AstraZeneca's headquarters?

Herzog & de Meuron designed The Discovery Centre (competition 2013, project 2013–2023), with BDP as executive architect and engineer and Mace as construction manager.

Source: Herzog & de Meuron project page

How big is The Discovery Centre?

577,504 sq ft (53,652 m²) of gross floor area on four levels, including 19,000 m² of laboratories. The building is 20 m tall, 145 m long and 156 m wide.

Source: Herzog & de Meuron project page · AstraZeneca press release, Nov 23, 2021

When did The Discovery Centre open?

AstraZeneca formally unveiled the £1bn building on November 23, 2021. It was designed for more than 2,200 research scientists.

Source: AstraZeneca press release, Nov 23, 2021

How many people work at AstraZeneca?

About 96,100 people at the end of 2025: 38% in emerging markets, 35% in Europe, 19% in the US and 8% in other established markets. Women make up 54% of the workforce.

Source: astrazeneca.com Investor FAQs · Annual Report 2025

Does AstraZeneca have a hybrid work policy?

Yes. Its job postings say employees work, on average, a minimum of three days a week from the office, while respecting individual flexibility.

Source: AstraZeneca job postings R-259809, R-258033 (2026)

What benefits does AstraZeneca offer in the UK?

Up to 29 weeks of maternity or adoption leave on full pay, an 11% pension allowance, a Share Incentive Plan with one matching share for every four bought, and a Sharesave plan of £5–£500 a month.

Source: UK Family Friendly Policy · Annual Report 2025, Directors' Remuneration Report

How much does the median AstraZeneca UK employee earn?

£100,000 in total pay in 2025 (full-time equivalent), including base pay of £73,000. The CEO's realised pay was 176 times that.

Source: Annual Report 2025, CEO and employee pay ratios

Who is AstraZeneca's CEO?

Pascal Soriot, Executive Director and CEO since October 2012.

Source: astrazeneca.com leadership page

Is The Discovery Centre sustainable?

It has a BREEAM “Excellent” rating. 174 boreholes supply geothermal energy, and the saw-tooth roof fills the interior with daylight; the design aimed to cut heating and lighting use by over 40%.

Source: astrazeneca.com Cambridge page · AstraZeneca press release, Nov 23, 2021

AstraZeneca Headquarters & offices · Cambridge, United Kingdom

A hovering glass disc with a saw-tooth roof, an open courtyard modelled on Cambridge's colleges, and glass-walled labs for more than 2,200 scientists.

A glass disc built around a public courtyard

Inside the DISC: atrium, stairs and open floors

The building on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus

The Discovery Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus

Office tour videos

Benefits (United Kingdom)

Why people stay: what AstraZeneca itself reports

Who works here

Pay at AstraZeneca

Office history: from Södertälje and Mayfair to a glass disc in Cambridge

Map: how the headquarters moved

What AstraZeneca does

Growth: revenue vs. people

Chief executives

AstraZeneca: questions people ask

Want to work at AstraZeneca?

AstraZeneca in our features

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