Diageo Scotland, Scottish Offices, Picture, South Gyle Office Building

Diageo Scottish HQ, Edinburgh

UDV Global Headquarters – Diageo Edinburgh Park: Scottish Offices

Diageo Edinburgh

Diageo Global Headquarters, South Gyle, Edinburgh Park, Scotland
Date built: 1999
Design: Allan Murray Architects ; interior by BDG McColl

Diageo HQ, Edinburgh – UDV photos from AMA

Diageo Offices

The UDV Global Headquarters – formerly known as G1 and then Diageo – is a Bauhaus-like L-shaped building in white render with colourful interior by BDG McColl. Entry to G1’s three floors is via a stair space of high quality, clad on the outside in black Zimbabwe granite with a ‘Guinness head’ of translucent glass at the top.

Address: 5 Lochside Way, Edinburgh EH12 9DT
Phone: 0131 519 2000

The G1 building plays many games with its glazing from Steven Holl / Mondrian irregularity in the main north-west corner window to rational Bauhaus Dessau fenetre longeur along the long facades.

The random and irregular fenestration, normally with slim black frames, and expanses of white render have become an Allan Murray trademark and are aesthetically very pleasing: what is unusual about the Diageo building though are the massive forms which push out from the frame at the corners.

Diageo Scottish Headquarters photo © Adrian Welch

The huge corner window facing the lochan is readable as a two meeting rooms linked vertically by external materials – patterned frames and glass – to create a thoughtful motif. The long upper gallery – a glazed extrusion along much of the West facade – visible from the by-pass is even more idiosyncratic: its puncturing of the south facade and proud termination forms a bold architectural intervention of a kind mostly lacking in Edinburgh Park (though A3’s slate wing is of that ilk) and the UK generally.

The Diageo Global Headquarters interiors by BDG McColl are focused on the north-west head or core: rooms are themed around Diageo brands so for example the Gordon’s Gin room is a vivid green. There is a lot of sophisticated technology on display at the Diageo offices, notably in the oval room behind the bar. The Edinburgh Park offices are more coloured than is usual but not as interesting as the spaces off the Entry and Bar.

Edinburgh Architecture

Also by Allan Murray Architects at Edinburgh Park are the A1 & A2 buildings: Edinburgh Park Architecture

Also by BDG McColl is Dundas House, New Town, Edinburgh

Adjacent building to Diageo Scotland HQ: G2 Building by Lee Boyd architects

Other Edinburgh Park buildings: JP Morgan Chase Building

Edinburgh Offices – key commercial architecture in the Scottish capital

Office Buildings – commercial property around the world

Edinburgh Park Office Buildings – Selection

Aegon Scotland – Edinburgh Park offices

image from architect practice

John Menzies Building – Edinburgh Park office building

image from architecture firm

New Town Harvey Nichols – luxury department store

Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits, beer and wine categories. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, JεB, Buchanan’s and Windsor whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness.

The company is still a relatively young having only exisited in current form since 1997. The brands and business however have a rich heritage.

For example the earliest ancestor company formed in 1749, is Justerini & Brooks – wine merchants, and blenders of the famous J&B whisky range. 10 years after that, in 1759 Arthur Guinness signed the lease on the now world famous St James’s Gate brewery in Dublin, going on to create a globally iconic brand.
source: http://www.diageo.com/en-ie/OurBusiness/pages/default.aspx

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