Office profile
GSK Headquarters & offices · London, United Kingdom
GSK · London, United Kingdom
A vertical farm, more than 800 live plants on 12 floors and circadian lighting — in a new central London headquarters.
The new headquarters, the benefits and three centuries of office history — then the pay. Every number from GSK's own annual report, gsk.com and the designer's and builder's project pages.
- 800+live plants across 12 floors
- 18 weeksparental leave, primary and secondary carers
- ≈ 3,000people based at the London HQ
- £93,970median UK employee pay, 2025
Sources: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F · GSK press release, Dec 12, 2022 · gsk.com “Life at GSK” · Overbury and PENSON project pages
Companies / United Kingdom / Pharmaceuticals & vaccines / GSK
THE HEADQUARTERS · 79 NEW OXFORD STREET · 2024
12 floors built to be one of the world's healthiest workplaces
GSK left Brentford in 2024 for a new building on the corner of New Oxford Street and Earnshaw Street. PENSON designed the workplace around choice and wellbeing: a vertical farm grows fresh produce for the food offer, more than 800 live plants run through the floors, circadian lighting covers the open-plan areas and a gym sits on Level 9.
- 12 floors
- Vertical farm (≈ 1.5 acres of produce)
- 800+ live plants
- WELL Platinum · BREEAM Outstanding
- Design: PENSON
- Fit-out: Overbury
Inside 79 New Oxford Street
PENSON designed GSK's new head office near Tottenham Court Road around an indoor farm, plant-filled lounges and a sculpted staircase.
GSK House, Brentford (2002–2024)
From 2002 to 2024 GSK's head office was GSK House at 980 Great West Road, Brentford, in west London.
Facts: GSK press release (Dec 12, 2022) · PENSON project page “GSK” · Overbury case study “GSK”. Photos are added later with credit to the designer and builder.
The London headquarters
| Building | Address |
|---|---|
| Global headquarters (registered office) | 79 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1DG, United Kingdom |
| Former headquarters (until 2024) | 980 Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex TW8 9GS, United Kingdom |
Source: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F (cover) · Form 20-F 2002 (Brentford) · GSK press release, Dec 12, 2022 · See them on the map ↓
Source: PENSON project page “GSK” · Overbury case study “GSK” · GSK 2024 Annual Report on Form 20-F (move completed). The two project pages give different floor areas.
Benefits (global, with UK share plans)
For primary and secondary carers alike.
Paid leave to care for a family member.
Average office days a week for office-based workers; formal and informal flexible working.
Save up to £250 a month for three years, then buy GSK shares at up to 20% below the starting price.
Put in up to £125 a month for GSK shares; the company matches them one for one.
Free, confidential support for employees and their families, worldwide.
A science-led digital platform for mental resilience and overall wellbeing.
Annual company-performance bonus, pension plan, savings programmes and childcare support.
Source: gsk.com, “Life at GSK” (global benefits) · GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F, remuneration report (share plans)
How GSK keeps people, in its own words
Formal and informal flexible working; office-based staff average 2–3 office days a week.
Every employee has an agreed development plan, plus coaching, mentoring and training programmes.
An internal Career Hub to explore new career paths within the company.
All UK employees can join the Share Save and Share Reward plans, with company-matched shares.
An annual bonus based on company performance, plus recognition programmes.
Source: gsk.com, “Life at GSK” (global benefits) · GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F, remuneration report
Who works here
permanent employees (Dec 31, 2025)
people based at the London HQ
in research and development
of employees work in Europe (31,518)
Source: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F, Number of employees · GSK press release, Dec 12, 2022 · gsk.com History and heritage
Pay at GSK
Salary at the median was £62,882. The CEO's total pay was 167 times the median UK employee's.
Source: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F, Annual report on remuneration (CEO pay ratio)
GSK publishes pay at the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles for UK employees, but not pay by age.
Office history: from a 1715 pharmacy back to central London
- 1715 Plough Court pharmacy, City of London
Apothecary Silvanus Bevan opened the Plough Court pharmacy, offering medical advice and medicines. It became Allen & Hanburys in 1856 and was later bought by Glaxo. GSK calls itself the longest continually running British pharmaceutical company.
Source: gsk.com, History and heritage
Plough Court, Lombard Street, London · Wellcome Collection / CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 1830 Smith & Gilbert, Philadelphia
The Smith & Gilbert drug house opened in Philadelphia. It became Smith, Kline & Co. by 1870 and Smith, Kline & French in 1891 — the “SmithKline” in GSK.
Source: gsk.com, History and heritage
No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it. - 1848 Thomas Beecham's first shop
Former shepherd Thomas Beecham opened his first shop in the north of England. In 1887 he built what was claimed to be the first factory in the UK with electricity.
Source: gsk.com, History and heritage
Beecham's Clock Tower, St Helens, 2010 · Raymond Knapman / CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 1873–1906 Joseph Nathan & Co. and the Bunnythorpe factory, New Zealand
Londoner Joseph Nathan set up a trading company in New Zealand in 1873. The family dried fresh milk at the Defiance factory in Bunnythorpe and sold it under the name ‘Glaxo’ from 1906.
Source: gsk.com, History and heritage
The Glaxo factory, Bunnythorpe, New Zealand, 2012 · William Stadtwald Demchick / CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 1880 Burroughs Wellcome & Co., London
American pharmacists Henry S. Wellcome and Silas M. Burroughs founded Burroughs Wellcome & Co. in London. Its research labs followed in 1894.
Source: gsk.com, History and heritage
Snow Hill Buildings, London, headquarters of Burroughs Wellcome & Co. · Wellcome Collection / CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 2000–02 GlaxoSmithKline at 980 Great West Road, Brentford
Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham announced their merger in January 2000. By the end of 2002 the new company's corporate head office was at 980 Great West Road, Brentford, in west London.
Source: gsk.com, History and heritage · Form 20-F 2002
GSK House, 980 Great West Road, Brentford · giggel / CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons - 2022 A new headquarters chosen in central London
GSK picked a building under construction on the corner of New Oxford Street and Earnshaw Street, close to London's Knowledge Quarter, for around 3,000 people. The sale of the Brentford site had been announced the year before.
Source: GSK press release, Dec 12, 2022
No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it. - 2024 79 New Oxford Street
The move to the new global headquarters was completed in 2024 — a return to central London, where the company traces its origins.
Source: GSK 2024 Annual Report on Form 20-F · GSK press release, Dec 12, 2022
79 New Oxford Street, 2024 · Photo: PENSON
Map: how the headquarters moved
From a pharmacy in the City of London to a dairy factory in New Zealand, then two decades in Brentford — and in 2024 back to central London, about 4 km from Plough Court.
- 1 · 1715Plough Court, City of London — Silvanus Bevan's pharmacy, the earliest root of GSK
- 2 · c.1904Bunnythorpe, New Zealand — Joseph Nathan & Co.'s Defiance dried-milk factory, birthplace of the Glaxo name
- 3 · 2002980 Great West Road, Brentford — GlaxoSmithKline's corporate head office until 2024
- 4 · 202479 New Oxford Street, London — Global headquarters today
Addresses: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F · Form 20-F 2002 · gsk.com History and heritage · Locations: OpenStreetMap
What GSK does
GSK calls itself a global biopharma company. Since spinning off its consumer healthcare business as Haleon in 2022, it focuses on medicines and vaccines in three product groups.
Two reporting segments: Commercial Operations and Total R&D. Sales are reported in three product groups.
Where the money came from · turnover by product group, 2025
Source: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F, Group financial review
Source: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F · per-employee figure calculated by eciffo
Growth: revenue vs. people
£24.4B → £32.7B
69,400 → 66,841
Calendar years. Turnover: SEC XBRL data from GSK's Form 20-F filings, continuing operations as restated after the 2022 Haleon demerger (earlier years included consumer healthcare and are not comparable). Employees: Form 20-F 2024 and 2025, permanent staff at year end. Multiples calculated by eciffo.
Chief executives
CEO and Board member since January 1, 2026; joined GSK in 2017 and was previously Chief Commercial Officer.
Led GSK's transformation, including the 2022 Haleon demerger and the move to central London; stepped down at the end of December 2025.
Roots: Silvanus Bevan (Plough Court, 1715), John K. Smith (Philadelphia, 1830), Thomas Beecham (1848), Joseph Nathan (New Zealand, 1873), Henry Wellcome and Silas Burroughs (London, 1880).
Source: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F (Chair's statement, Board) · gsk.com History and heritage
GSK: questions people ask
Where is GSK's headquarters?
At 79 New Oxford Street, London WC1A 1DG, on the corner of New Oxford Street and Earnshaw Street in central London. GSK moved there from 980 Great West Road, Brentford, in 2024.
Source: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F · GSK press release, Dec 12, 2022
Why did GSK move its headquarters from Brentford?
GSK said central London puts it closer to the city's life sciences hub, the Knowledge Quarter and partners such as the Francis Crick Institute and King's College London, with good public transport supporting its sustainability goals.
Source: GSK press release, Dec 12, 2022
Who designed GSK's London headquarters?
PENSON was lead architect and interior designer for GSK's workplace. Overbury delivered the fit-out across 12 floors, in phases while staff moved in.
Source: PENSON project page · Overbury case study
How big is GSK's headquarters?
The fit-out covers 12 floors. Overbury gives the area as 150,000 sq ft (≈ 13,935 m²) and PENSON as 170,000 sq ft (≈ 15,794 m²). It is the base for around 3,000 people.
Source: Overbury case study · PENSON project page · GSK press release, Dec 12, 2022
What is special about the GSK headquarters?
A vertical farm producing the equivalent of 1.5 acres of fresh produce, more than 800 live plants, circadian lighting in all open-plan areas, real-time environment monitoring and a gym on Level 9. It targets WELL Platinum and BREEAM Outstanding.
Source: Overbury case study · PENSON project page
Does GSK allow hybrid working?
Yes. GSK offers formal and informal flexible working, with office-based workers spending an average of 2–3 days a week in the office.
Source: gsk.com, Life at GSK
What benefits does GSK offer?
18 weeks' parental leave for primary and secondary carers, 4 weeks' paid leave to care for a family member, a free 24/7 employee assistance programme, an annual bonus and pension plan. UK staff can join the Share Save (up to 20% discount) and Share Reward (1-for-1 match) plans.
Source: gsk.com, Life at GSK · GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F
How much do GSK employees in the UK earn?
The median UK employee received £93,970 in total pay and benefits in 2025 (salary £62,882). The CEO's pay was 167 times that.
Source: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F, CEO pay ratio
How many people work at GSK?
66,841 permanent employees at the end of 2025: 31,518 in Europe, 11,807 in the US and 23,516 in other countries.
Source: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F
Who is GSK's CEO?
Luke Miels, CEO since January 1, 2026. He succeeded Emma Walmsley, who stepped down at the end of December 2025.
Source: GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F
You have seen the office, the benefits and the pay
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GSK's official social accounts
GSK's official accounts, as linked from gsk.com.