A milestone move to a larger, more advanced space to enhance collaboration, efficiency, and service excellence.
The British Council, the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations, today officially announced our new head office relocation to Lancaster Luminaire Building, 1152 Lang Road, Dong Da District. This marks a significant step in our commitment to growth, sustainability, and delivering an enhanced experience for customers, candidates, stakeholders, and staff. The modern, collaborative space will allow us to improve our services, foster greater engagement, and create an inspiring environment for learning and innovation.
The ceremony was attended by Mr Marcus Winsley, Deputy Head of Mission, British Embassy; Ms Nguyen Phuong Hoa, Director General, International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Mr Dang Van Huan, Deputy Director General, Higher Education Department, Ministry of Education and Training; and James Shipton, Director Viet Nam, British Council.
The Lancaster Luminaire Building is an A-class structure with LEED Gold certification, making it one of the few green buildings in Viet Nam. It incorporates sustainable materials and innovative design strategies to promote energy efficiency, water conservation, and better indoor air quality – values that align with our mission.
With state-of-the-art facilities and sustainability improvements, this new head office, which includes a teaching centre and an examination test centre, reflects our commitment to growth and enhances the experience for our customers, candidates, and stakeholders. It aims to offer better services, upgraded facilities, and a more convenient location to support long-term collaboration.
The English teaching centre in Lancaster Luminaire is the British Council’s largest centre in Hanoi. With student well-being as its top priority, the centre features 11 international standard classrooms equipped with cutting-edge teaching facilities and amenities, ensuring a safe and inspiring learning environment that meets the highest standards of student protection. Every detail of the classroom design reflects a collaboration between our global team and leading local architects. We take pride in delivering a truly exceptional student experience, led by highly skilled specialist teachers and supported by world-class programmes developed by global experts, reaching over 100 countries and 100 million English learners.
Alongside the teaching centre, the brand new IELTS on Computer test centre is also ready to support test takers in achieving their best performance. Located near top universities such as the Foreign Trade University, the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, RMIT, and the University of Law, this state-of-the-art test centre offers test takers more location choices. Equipped with 22 computer stations, it provides daily test sessions and face-to-face Speaking tests with professional examiners at the Lancaster Building venue.
To celebrate the opening day, a series of roundtable discussions, workshops, networking sessions, a student award ceremony, a test venue walk-through, and interactive activities were organised. The event welcomed nearly 200 guests, including representatives and partners from the education, arts, English language teaching, and assessment sectors, as well as test takers, students, and their parents.
Reflecting on this milestone, James Shipton, Director Viet Nam, British Council, said:
'The grand opening of the Lancaster Luminaire Building is so much more than just a celebration of a new physical space. As we celebrate new beginnings, we are more assured than ever of our relevance and remain hugely positive about our partnerships and role in helping young people fulfil their aspirations. Through English and Education, Arts and Culture, we will continue to create opportunities that strengthen the bonds between our nations. The shared purpose that has inspired our work over the years has only grown stronger and fills us with optimism for the decades ahead.'