British multinational pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), has praised the adoption of Husqvarna Automower technology to maintain the green spaces around its Global head office in Brentford over the past three years.

The robotic mower at work at GlaxoSmithKline's head office

GSK house in Brentford has relied on ELMO, a robotic lawnmower manufactured by Husqvarna and named by GSK staff, to work unassisted and maintain a large lawn area surrounding its headquarters.

ELMO stands for Electronic Lawn Mowing Operative and is an Automower which is able to maintain green spaces up to 5000m2 per machine. Installed in 2017 by Sodexo, GSK’s grounds maintenance provider, the company say the robotic mower has quietly gone about its business and without disturbing office staff, cutting little and often through its random mowing pattern, ensuring that grass of GSK house remains a lush, healthy green.

Sodexo’s senior facilities service manager for GSK, Michelle Chapman, said, “ELMO has truly become part of the family at GSK house – our staff just love watching the robot work and GSK couldn’t be without ELMO now.

“For us, the Automower means time saved and an environmentally way for us to manage the green spaces at our headquarters whilst improving the lawn appearance. It gives the grounds team more time to focus on other, more crucial things and the fact that it’s silent in its working means it does not disturb staff when cutting the grass.”

UK Manager - Husqvarna Professional, Kevin Ashmore, commented, “Sodexo’s close relationship with Husqvarna was key in them being one of the first in the UK to trial Husqvarna Automower in public spaces. The result was that GSK Brentwood recommended the Husqvarna Automower to many of its main Global sites.”