GPhC targets Canary Wharf for new HQ
Business The prosperous East London area has been chosen as the future location of the GPhC from September but a specific site has not yet been selected
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has named London's Canary Wharf as the location of its future premises, which it will move into in September.
The regulator had not yet decided on a specific building but had identified the prosperous business district as its future location, it told C+D yesterday (February 3).
In addition to the cost of moving, the GPhC said it expected to pay total relocation payouts of up to £302,000 to help employees with temporary but additional expenditure such as higher travel costs, revealed papers released ahead of its council meeting on Thursday (February 6). It will also pay dual rent for its Canary Wharf and current Lambeth premises for a "certain period of time".
The regulator is also due to recruit more staff, taking its total recruitment costs to an estimated £200,000.
GPhC has chosen the prosperous east London financial centre as its location from September |
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The GPhC said it was too early to say whether the new accommodation would cost more or less than the Lambeth headquarters, for which it pays nearly £500,000 a year to share with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS). The RPS set out plans to sell its part of the premises in 2012, prompting the regulator to start seeking alternative premises in London last February. |
The RPS is due to leave the premises for its new headquarters at 66-68 East Smithfield, near Tower Hill underground station by May 2015, in a move estimated to save £400,000 a year in running costs.
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