More than three years ago, Google announced plans to build a massive “landscraper” headquarters in London. But after switching architects from AHMM—whose plans were deemed “too boring"—to Thomas Heatherwick, and following the chaos of Brexit, the plans were up in the air. Now, the Guardian reports that Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai has announced that plans were going ahead.
The headquarters will be built in London’s King’s Cross, in between King’s Cross station and St. Pancras. Like with the plans for Google’s new Silicon Valley headquarters, Bjarke Ingels Group will collaborate with Heatherwick Studio on the design.
"From the beginning, the project to give Google a new home in King's Cross has been extraordinary. Rather than impose a universal style on Google’s buildings in the UK and the USA, we have tried to create an interestingness that fits the scale and the community of King’s Cross,” BIG and Heatherwick Studio state in a joint press statement. “The Silicon Valley startup garage meets the London train sheds in a building that couples clarity with eccentricity and anchors innovation with heritage.”
The building will be 10-stories tall, and “as long as the Shard is tall,” the Guardian reports, with 650,000 square feet of floorspace. In a classic Google move, the building will be decked out with amenities, including a climbing wall, rooftop pool, and indoor football pitch. Google said it plans to invest more than £1 billion in the building and in hiring new staff. The specific designs have yet to be released.
“This is a vote of confidence in our great city – creating high-skilled jobs, supporting growth and demonstrating that London is open to business, new investment and talent from around the globe,” Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, stated follow the announcement.
The London-branch of Google houses their DeepMind subsidiary, which develops AI technology. Google will own the building, rather than rent it—a first in Europe for the tech giant. This could pose some problems for the company, as its already in the midst of a row with the UK government over taxes.
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