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Google to build new UK headquarters in London, wacky design likely

google londonGoogle is splashing the cash, having just purchased 2.4 acres of prime real estate in central London, close to the UK capital’s King’s Cross railway station.

In a deal worth around £1 billion ($1.6 billion), the land will be used for the construction of an 11-story building to head up the Web giant’s UK operations.

The site, which was cleared as part of a regeneration project in the area, is already home to the Guardian newspaper and Central St. Martins Art College.

“This is a big investment by Google,” Matt Brittin, Google vice-president for northern and central Europe, said. “We’re committing further to the UK – where computing and the web were invented. It’s good news for Google, for London and for the UK.”

Google currently has two offices in London, one in Victoria and the other in Holborn. Staff at these locations will transfer to King’s Cross some time in 2015, when the new building is expected to be completed.

The company also has a presence in the east of the capital in what’s known as Tech City, a burgeoning media and technology hub housing companies such as Facebook, Intel and Cisco. Google’s seven-story campus provides facilities for entrepreneurs with ideas for new start-ups, and encourages collaboration between individuals and groups on new project ideas. Weekly mentoring programs and special networking events are laid on by Google, too.

With the Mountain View company well known for its unique office designs, it’s going to be fun to discover what its designers have in store for the new King’s Cross location, especially as they’ll be starting from scratch as opposed to moving into an existing building.

Google’s UK operations hit the headlines recently when it was accused – along with Amazon and Starbucks – of diverting profits from their UK operations in order to avoid paying taxes in the country.

[via FT]

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Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Google scraps design for UK headquarters, asks architects to make it wackier
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The change of plan means the new offices will be unlikely to welcome Googlers until 2017, a year later than originally planned.

According to Business Design Online (via 9to5Google), Google has asked the building’s designers, architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, to come up with “a new design within the original floor plan that will push the boundaries of office design and better fit the needs of the local community.”
Google had little to say on the matter, except, “We have a great plan for the new building at King’s Cross but we want to challenge ourselves to do something even better for Google, King’s Cross and for the local community.”

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[Image: Igor Stevanovic / Shutterstock]
Below: A demo of Amscreen's OptimEyes tech.

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[Via BBC] [Image: Pocket-lint]

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