UK – Diageo has announced that it will be moving its global headquarters from its current building in Park Royal, NorthWest London, to a new central home in England’s capital.
The relocation of the offices to Great Marlborough Street, Central London will take place in the Spring of 2021, as the company enters the final stages of its current lease in Park Royal.
The move will also see all 900 employees across Diageo’s London-based operations come together in the new location, bringing teams closer to the consumers that enjoy the company’s iconic brands.
“The move provides the opportunity for the world’s leading premium drinks company to create an agile, world-leading working environment for all its London-based employees,” Diageo said.
This will also reduce its combined 200,000 square feet of office space to a more efficient 105,000 square foot building.
As part of keeping with the company’s ambition to become one of the most inclusive global employers, Diageo said that its employees will be involved in the design of their new workspace “blending the latest in smart-working technology into an environment supportive of better collaboration for teams and partners.”
“The new headquarters will also provide an immersive customer collaboration centre and brand experience, showcasing the best of the off and on-trade and the creation of some of the company’s iconic brands”
In addition, a dedicated retail experience will also be open to the public, enabling consumers to purchase Diageo’s brands.
Mairéad Nayager, Chief Human Resource Officer at Diageo said: “We are excited to be bringing our people together at last under one roof and closer to our consumers.
“We intend to create a world-leading workspace for them, designed to meet the needs of Diageo today and in the future.
“Our new headquarters will provide the most inclusive of working environments for all of our people and enable us to retain and attract the best talent in the future.”
Meanwhile, the board of Diageo Plc has approved a return of capital programme (the ROC Programme) to return up to US$4.97 billion to shareholders over the next three years.
Diageo said that it has entered into a non-discretionary agreement with UBS AG London Branch (“UBS”) to execute the first phase of the ROC Programme to enable the company to buy back shares.
“This agreement will commence 1 August 2019 and is expected to end no later than 31 January 2020 and will be for a value of up to £1.25 billion (US$1.38bn). Further execution phases of the ROC programme will be announced in due course,” the company said.
