Goldman Sachs's new £1 billion London headquarters is full of family-friendly features, including lactation suites for new mothers, a nursery with pet fish and a climbing wall, and “resting rooms” for tired bankers.
The Evening Standard can reveal that the US investment bank’s European HQ in the Square Mile has a string of innovations for its 6,000 UK staff, known for working punishing hours in return for multi-million-pound pay packets.
The 10-storey office, known as Plumtree Court, is bigger than 26 football pitches and has the largest trading floor in London.
When staff begin to move in next weekend, they will be able to sign their babies and pre-school children up to a 7,000 square-foot nursery and play centre, which includes a water play area, technology classroom with a wifi-connected smartboard, trikes, a play kitchen, two napping rooms and an “art gallery’” for tots’ drawings.
It is free for 20 days a year, or parents can pay for full-time enrolment. Staff can also bring their school-aged children into the new HQ for childcare during the holidays.
There will be nursing rooms for new mothers who are breastfeeding, with a breast pump, secure fridge, armchair and phone.
The investment bank last year became the first company in the UK to pay for workers who are breastfeeding to courier their expressed milk to their babies.
It also began offering staff free emergency care for sick children or elderly parents as part of its “family-friendly” revamp and an attempt to reverse its large UK gender pay gap.
Female staff at Goldman were paid 51 per cent less than men per hour in 2018.
Other features include “contemplation rooms” for quiet time, therapy rooms for offering sports massages and acupuncture and “resting rooms” for those feeling unwell.
Another suite is reserved for “group prayer” and for choir practice, while a health centre includes a GP and nurses, psychiatry, psychology and physiotherapy services.
A gym has 60 treadmills, bikes and cross-trainers, a yoga and reformer pilates studio, steam rooms, plus “all gender changing and shower facilities”.
A 60-space car park for top executives has been replaced with a bike park for 455 cycles, complete with showers and changing rooms.
The bank’s new site also boasts eco-credentials, with a roof garden and LED lighting to help bring about a 25 per cent reduction in the building’s annual CO2 emissions.
Richard Gnodde, chief executive of Goldman’s European business, said: “We are delighted to have built a world-class office for our people, enabling them to collaborate and serve clients in an efficient and attractive space.”
