Google expands London real estate empire with the purchase of $ 1 billion offices

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The central building of St Giles in London.

DavorLovincic | iStock Unpublished | Getty Images

Google bought colorful office space in London for $ 1 billion as it awaits construction work on its UK headquarters, which is overdue.

The internet giant announced on Friday that it has acquired the entire Central St. Giles building, where it already occupies several floors, in London’s West End.

“Our investment in this extraordinary development designed by Renzo Piano represents our continued faith in the office as a place of collaboration and connection in person,” said Ronan Harris, vice president and chief executive of Google UK and Ireland, in a post on blog.

Google plans to renovate the office in the next few years, Harris said, adding that there will be collaborative spaces, team containers and covered outdoor workspaces.

The Mountain View-based company employs 6,400 UK employees and the company has committed to creating enough UK office space for 10,000 over the next few years. Its main hub is in the recently gentrified King’s Cross neighborhood at the northern end of the city center, where it has acquired several offices.

However, its new UK office, which sits on land behind King’s Cross train station, is still under construction. The 11-story “skyscraper” was designed by the prestigious Heatherwick Studios and Bjarke Ingels Group. The projects show a 25-meter swimming pool, a 200-meter rooftop running track and a large sports hall with views over London. It will accommodate up to 4,000 Googlers once completed.

The new Google headquarters in London.

Google

However, development is lagging behind by several years. Google initially hoped to be in the building by 2016, but a series of setbacks pushed the move date back several years. The initial 1 billion ($ 1.2 billion) plans drawn up by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris were reportedly scrapped by Google cofounder Larry Page as “too boring.”

A source familiar with the build, who did not want to be named due to the sensitive nature of the project, told CNBC last April that Google aims to enter 2023/2024, marking a delay of nearly a decade.

Other Google buildings in the King’s Cross neighborhood are in various stages of completion. Google expects to employ around 7,000 people in the area.

Elsewhere, Alphabet-owned DeepMind AI lab is also experiencing delays on a new 11-story building in the same area. Last year DeepMind was supposed to move into the building that boasts a library, lecture hall and roof garden, but construction work has yet to finish.

Meanwhile, Apple is poised to relocate 1,400 employees from multiple Apple offices around London to a new 500,000-square-foot space, which will occupy six floors of the former Battersea coal plant (pictured on the cover of Pink’s “Animals” album. Floyd). .

The UK is one of the biggest outposts for US tech giants. Meta, Twitter and Amazon have also acquired multi-story buildings in London in recent years to house their growing armies.

The coronavirus has blocked many construction projects around the world, and the lavish headquarters of Silicon Valley companies are no exception. As restrictions tightened in the UK, many construction companies temporarily closed construction sites and laid off workers.

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