Penguin Random House UK
Join the Penguin team at our distribution centre in Colchester, Essex, where you’ll work in a friendly environment, taking satisfaction in a job well done. You’ll leave your hard work at the door and be rewarded with a competitive benefits package. Here, our specialist teams come together to facilitate the UK’s leading book distributor.
Customer service, finance, tech, HR, warehouse and distribution colleagues all sustain the scale of our operation with over 650,000 square feet of storage space and 120,000,000 books dispatched each year. Colleagues are supported to do their best work and motivated to make their mark in realising our shared purpose: to connect more people with great stories and ideas.
Getting here
By rail: Trains depart London Liverpool Street to Colchester at frequent intervals. Journey time is approx. 55 mins. If arriving to the station, a taxi (rank outside Colchester Station) is required to Frating Green takes approx. 15 minutes.
By air: The nearest international airport is Stansted, which is approx. 45 minutes from TBS by road.
By bus: Local bus services are available and there is a bus stop directly outside the site running from Clacton-on-Sea, Hedingham & Chambers route 76 and X76
The walkway to the front entrance from the car park is paved and level.
The main doors into building are 1.32m wide. This entrance is step-free. The automatic doors at the main entrance are 1.32 m wide. If outside of office hours (8:00 – 17:00) these doors will require an access pass. There is an intercom available for further assistance, and any contact you are visiting can support you with any queries for our on-site facilities team.
What 3 words location: https://w3w.co/seasons.leaves.rejoins to pinpoint the location of the entrance to our building.
Google Map location 51.87233379827049, 1.0451323931628689
By road: If driving to Frating, head towards the A133, which is off the east bound A120. There is car parking on site and you do not need to register your vehicle. There is also disabled parking available on the right hand side of the car park. There is limited guest parking – requests should be raised through the Support Hub.
For those with electric or hybrid cars, there are four EV charging points in our car park. Note these are not open for public use and are not shown on general searches.
Our security gate is primarily used by warehouse colleagues but also available for office colleagues. These gates lead to the first aid room and outside smoking & vaping area.
Colleagues and visitors should assemble on the large grassy area behind the office in the event of a fire alarm.
When you arrive
There is a wide gate access (width: 0.9m). The barriers are glass, but the central gate lights up and the reception team will leave them open in good time for colleagues and guests to go through. A hearing loop is available at reception and can be transferred to meeting room if required.
The office card access doors beyond these barriers are power-assisted and 0.8m wide. Some doors have leafed sections which can make the door wider (width 1.12metres) for improved access.
The lifts are 1.39m (depth) by 0.79m (width) and can accommodate up to 630kg.
If for any reason you cannot wait in line for the lifts and need priority access, request a priority lift badge at reception.
The basement houses a wellbeing room, recording room, massage room, showers and toilets, and kitchen. There is level access to all facilities.
Information about each facility can be found in ‘other building facilities’.
Example floor layout
Each floor contains a shared seating area that can be used for any colleagues or visitors. People choose to meet, work, or eat here as they please.
Meeting rooms vary in size and have touch screen devices outside showing when the room is booked that day and when it’s free to be used.
Each floor contains a kitchen that has a sink, coffee machine, fridge, kettle, glassware, recycling, food, and regular waste bins, free hot drink supplies, a cold drinks tap, and boiled water tap.
There is a printer and postroom area on each floor.
Our colleagues use their access card or login details to log into the printer and contact the Support Hub with any issues.
There are outside seating spaces with tables and chairs on floors 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
Cupboards with a coat hanger symbol are free to use cloakrooms.
Restaurant and coffee bar
The restaurant is located on the ground floor and serves breakfast from 08:00 to 10:00 and lunch from 11:30 – 14:00. Complimentary books are available to take from the bookcase in the Bookends Restaurant.
Each floor has two tea points and kitchenettes equipped with facilities for making hot drinks. We provide drinking water, bins for food, recycling, and waste, and food fridges. A range of free tea and coffee is provided and vending machines are offer the purchase of hot & cold drinks and snacks.
Toilet and showers
On the ground floor we have an accessible and gender-neutral toilet, located next to reception.
On the first floor, we also have an accessible and gender-neutral toilet, directly above the ground floor toilet.
There are male and female toilets are located on the ground floor, next to the Bookends Restaurant, and on the first floor, near the rear stairwell.
The main shower facilities are located in the basement and can be accessed directly from the cycle store area. One entrance from the cycle store is level. There are 3 individual shower cubicles (level access) and an accessible shower which is step-free.
There are also shower facilities on level 8.
There is an accessible shower in the basement.
The door is 0.88m wide, and the accessible shower contains a moveable shower chair (height: 0.5m, max load: 100kg). There is an emergency cord in the shower.
The accessible shower also contains a toilet and sink – both with grab rails and an emergency cord.
Other building facilities
Our first aid room is located on the ground floor next to the warehouse entrance. A list of all first aiders at this site is displayed on signage throughout the office.
The post room is located on the ground floor of the office. Colleagues and visitors can speak to a Facilities team member for post related queries. Post will be sorted into departmental pigeon holes and should be collected by a department team member when convenient. Colleagues can place small quantities of outgoing post, including internal mail, in the outgoing post trays located in the pigeon holes.
Our wellbeing room can be used for prayer, religious observance, meditation, or just if you need to have a quiet moment to reflect. The room is located near the ground floor accessible and gender-neutral toilet.
There is ample bike storage in the basement, with direct access to the lockers and shower facilities.
Access to the basement is via Causton Street. Your contact can book a space through Facilities who can issue an ID tag to attach to your bike.
The Tech Support Hub is on 7th Floor.
Here colleagues can help with hardware and software questions, or you can raise a ticket through the online Support Hub.