PRH staff to start Embassy Gardens move in April 2020

Penguin Random House has confirmed it will begin a staggered move to Embassy Gardens from April 2020.

Staff at PRH were told today (21st November) about the timescale which will run from April to June next year, seeing staff at the publisher move between four different London sites, including the new premises at One Embassy Gardens in Nine Elms SW8.

Staff from the Ealing and Vauxhall Bridge Road (VBR) offices will move to Embassy Gardens on 24th and 25th April. 

On 9th and 10th May, employees from The Strand building will move to Embassy Gardens. Remaining colleagues at The Strand will move to VBR on 6th and 7th June, with the lease for The Strand building expiring in 2020.

Some colleagues will remain at the VBR premises. The building is currently being refurbished, the process of which began in 2018 and should finish in summer 2020.

The publishing mix for the two continuing buildings was revealed in February 2018, with around 600 employees based across VBR and Embassy Gardens. PRH announced at the time that it was working with architecture firm Perkins and Will to design workspaces across Embassy Gardens and VBR to "celebrate the distinct and unique identities of our publishing houses, as well as a reflection of our shared culture, values and identity as one Penguin Random House". 

The publishing divisions relocating to the new building will include Michael Joseph and Penguin Random House Children’s, both previously based at the Strand; Transworld, moving from its site in Ealing; and Vintage, moving from VBR. Also moving to Embassy Gardens will be the following teams: audiences & audio, communications and corporate responsibility and finance.

Meanwhile at the existing VBR site, Penguin General and Penguin Press will move from the Strand to join Ebury and Cornerstone.

Spread across both offices will be the following departments: HR; legal and contracts, publishing operations, sales and technology. C.e.o. Tom Weldon will also work across both offices.

Weldon said when the publishing mix was revealed: “We have an opportunity between now and the end of 2019 to think about how our workspace can become a hub for the best creative talent in London. This is not just about where we work, but also about how we work together in the future.”

The Embassy Gardens development, which surrounds the US Embassy, features a mix of offices, apartments and amenities including a recently launched oyster bar and "the one and only Sky Pool... a 25-metre crystal clear, acrylic pool that stretches between two buildings," according to Perkins and Will.