A FTSE 250 office landlord has called in lawyers to investigate a whistleblower’s allegations about its culture.
Great Portland Estates (GPE), which owns 2.9 billion of offices mostly in the West End of London, told staff that a law firm would be coming in to conduct an investigation after a complaint by a former employee.
The company held an all-staff call on Friday to inform them about the matter because bosses were concerned that the whistleblower was planning to go public with their claims, according to The Telegraph, which first reported the investigation.
Toby Courtauld, the chief executive, who led the call on Friday, did not go into details or reveal the nature of the allegations, but told staff that he did not recognise the picture painted of the company’s culture. A spokesman for the landlord declined to comment.
GPE is one of the largest office developers and landlords in London. Its buildings generated net rental income of 67 million in the most recent financial year. It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 with a stock market value of 1.3 billion and employs 150 people, most of whom work out from its office near Oxford Circus.
The company has been one of the beneficiaries of the post-lockdown “flight to quality” as companies increasingly prefer to be in the greenest, most modern office buildings.
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