A space that recognises that every team works differently – “fairness does not mean the same”. Rather than applying a standard workplace formula, the design provides different teams with the right mix of spaces, settings and tools to support how they work best. What connects them is a shared passion for sport, lifestyle and the outdoors a thread that runs through Pentland’s culture and is expressed throughout its workplace.
Pentland’s headquarters is shaped around people and behaviours rather than traditional departmental boundaries – one hub, not brand silos.
The workplace creates opportunities for spontaneous interaction, knowledge sharing and teamwork, with open collaboration zones, informal meeting spaces and shared social environments sitting alongside quieter settings for focused work.
Employees are given greater choice over how and where they work throughout the day, creating a workplace that supports productivity while actively strengthening connections between people and brands.
Bringing multiple brands together also creates opportunities for cross-disciplinary thinking. Creative development, technical expertise, customer engagement and strategic planning can happen within one connected environment, encouraging ideas and knowledge to move more freely across the business.
For Pentland, the workplace is also an opportunity to tell its story.
Brand immersion, heritage and culture form an important part of the visitor and employee experience, with moments throughout the space designed to showcase the breadth and personality of the Pentland family.
Reception occupies a prominent double-height space, visible from the building atrium and across multiple floors. It’s position gives Pentland a strong presence within the building, while a digital reception desk introduces movement, content and storytelling to create an immediate and memorable first impression.
Rather than simply applying branding to the workplace, the design allows Pentland’s identity to become part of the experience of the space.
A major part of the brief was about unlocking more value from Pentland’s existing real estate.
The former Town Hall was predominantly an open space used for internal all-hands meetings, limiting its flexibility and the number of ways it could support the business.
GTA completely reimagined the space as an enclosed, flexible presentation and corporate hospitality environment. Multiple configurations now allow it to accommodate product launches, training sessions, presentations, client events and company-wide gatherings.
The transformation has turned a space with a single primary purpose into a high-performing business asset.
Functions that previously required Pentland to hire external venues can now be hosted and managed within its own headquarters, reducing operational costs while creating a far more seamless, distinctly Pentland experience for employees, clients and visitors.
Acoustic performance is a key consideration across Pentland Brands’ global workplaces, and the Johnson Gardens expansion was designed with sound and privacy embedded into the technical design from the outset.
GTA tested the existing base-build conditions to inform partition abutment details and modelled the anticipated sound experience to establish the appropriate acoustic treatments.
Performance was then tested during construction and again following completion, ensuring spaces met or exceeded the agreed criteria. The result provides confidentiality where it matters, particularly within meeting environments, while maintaining acoustic comfort across open and collaborative areas.
One of the greatest challenges was delivering significant change while Pentland remained fully operational.
GTA carefully phased the works to connect the new expansion space with the existing workplace, creating new openings between the two areas while maintaining business continuity.
A temporary reception maintained the arrival experience while the Town Hall was transformed, and new mechanical cooling systems were phased into meeting spaces around the occupied workplace.
Careful planning, sequencing and communication allowed substantial interventions to take place with minimal disruption to Pentland’s day-to-day operations.
Johnson Gardens forms part of a much wider relationship between Pentland Brands and GTA Interior.
As Pentland’s global workplace partner, GTA has designed and delivered the company’s North American headquarters in Los Angeles and regional office in Munich, alongside its continued expansion in London and Australasia.
Across each location, the geography, teams and requirements may change, but the principle remains consistent: create workplaces that feel unmistakably Pentland while responding to the people who use them.
One global culture. Different teams, different places, different ways of working and a workplace designed to support them all.
