Diageo’s Edinburgh HQ sold for £6.55m

Diageo’s Edinburgh HQ has been sold by its landlord for £6.55 million.

Diageo’s Edinburgh HQ has been sold for £6.55million

The drinks giant, which was set to relinquish the tenancy of the 42,0000 square foot Lochside Way site in November, will relocate around 200 of its members of staff to a building nearby in the Edinburgh Park site at the end of the year, according to The Herald Scotland.

The building was originally marketed at over £8.5 million.

A spokesperson for Diageo said its ambition was to ensure that its work locations created an inclusive environment to enable its employees to give their best, for its brands to come alive and where everyone is welcome.

“Following an extensive review of our current office facilities in Edinburgh we have decided to relocate within Edinburgh Park to create a new transformational office location. Over the coming months we will work with our employees to create an office for the future with the intention of relocating by late 2019,“ she said.

In February, Diageo revealed it had submitted plans to convert the former House of Frazer on Princes Street, in the heart of Edinburgh’s shopping district, into a visitor centre for its blended Scotch whisky brand Johnnie Walker, which it said was the “focal point” of its £150 million investment to boost Scotch whisky tourism. Four of its other distilleries will be linked to the visitor centre to represent whisky’s regional flavour variations .

Diageo is also investing in 12 visitor attractions across Scotland and has committed to a £35 million to reopen the “lost” distilleries of Port Ellen, which feature two separate distillation regimes, and Brora.