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Google Unveils Design For 1 Million Squarefoot London Headquarters (cnn.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the architectural-statement dept.

dryriver quotes a report from CNN: Google has released designs for a new 11-story, 1 million-square-foot headquarters in London near King's Cross railway station, complete with a sprawling, landscaped rooftop garden. The facilities will include a cafe, gym and pool as well as a rooftop track and ground-floor retail spaces, according to the company's application for permission to build. The campus has been designed by an all-star team that includes Thomas Heatherwick, the British designer behind London's 2012 Olympic cauldron, and Danish architect Bjarke Ingels' BIG firm. The two are also collaborating on Google's Mountain View campus in California. The company currently has a smaller headquarters in the area, along with another nearby building. Google had submitted designs for a new headquarters in 2013, but they were later scrapped. If the new application is approved by Camden Council, construction will start next year.

58 comments

  1. But why London? by wjcofkc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does anyone have input on this? There must be legal reasons. There are plenty of cities in their country of origin that could use this. I get it that they already have a smaller campus there. But regardless.

    --
    Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    1. Re:But why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously. Why would they need an 11 story, 1 million square foot building? For what?

      This is what happens when you have too much money.

    2. Re:But why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Smok'em if you've got'em.

    3. Re:But why London? by wjcofkc · · Score: 2

      Decadence. They death of all entities.

      --
      Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    4. Re:But why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Given what real estate in London costs, they must have some really good reasons!

    5. Re:But why London? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Prestige, one of the few cities with good transport links, and near the government which is handy for lobbying. They are probably looking to take advantage of Brexit, with some concessions in exchange for not cancelling the new HQ at a time when the economy is starting to tank.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:But why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because when you're a global business, sitting in your home country and never expanding out from it doesn't ever work very well.

      The fact is, contrary to the idea of American exceptionalists, Europe has some astoundingly good developers that can go toe to toe with the best of those in America. Leaving those ripe for the poaching by other companies when you could build a beautiful HQ for them to work for you in instead doesn't make good business sense, and besides, given the current political climate in the US it's not like many smart intelligent people are likely to be drawn there at the moment is it?

  2. Tax Benefits.. by thesupraman · · Score: 1

    What else would matter?

  3. landscaped rooftop garden by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    tower. Babel. ziggy.

  4. Throwing away money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Were I a shareholder, I would be having a conniption fit.

  5. Why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When looking for a job the first thing I consider is where the job is located. If it's located somewhere with high rent and a low standard of living, I immediately discount that job. London is top of the list of places where I wouldn't want to work since I have no desire to live in a small apartment with absurdly high rent. I'd much rather take a lower paid job in a location where I can afford a detached house.

    Despite the obvious disadvantages of locating in a high rent area, large companies seem drawn to the most expensive locations. I'm not sure if this is for the prestige or if it's because they believe it attracts more talent, but for me it ends any interest I have in working for that company.

    1. Re:Why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same here with regards to the SF Bay area, I don't understand the attraction. I occasionally get headhunters pinging me about jobs out there (I'm in a suburb of a large southern metro). "You'd be making $150K!" Yeah, and I'd be signing every penny of it over to a fucking landlord! I own a 3 bedroom house on almost an acre that cost me $150K. In SF I'd be struggling to find an apartment where the shower isn't in the kitchen. These companies can keep their "high salary" jobs in money-pit cities, I'd much rather make half the money and live somewhere vastly more affordable.

    2. Re:Why London? by SirSlud · · Score: 1

      large companies seem drawn to the most expensive locations

      The most expensive locations are where people are making the most money. Salaries and cost of living are not independent numbers.

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
    3. Re:Why London? by baker_tony · · Score: 2

      I spent a decade living in London, was awesome.
      Flatshare, then you get a huge house and great mates! I did that for a while. Just make it close to a train or tube stop and life is sweet.
      I also got a 1 bed apartment when I got a wife, that was small, but meters from tube station and main shopping road. You spend all your time in the pub, partying, participating in sport teams and travelling at any rate when living in London, so just need a place to crash really.
      Back living in NZ now bringing up kids, that's something you wouldn't want to do in London.
      But you stick to what you think life might be like in London and feel better about your decisions, that's cool too.

    4. Re:Why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The most expensive locations are where people are making the most money. Salaries and cost of living are not independent numbers.

      That statement only makes sense if the ratio of average salary and cost of living is constant from place to place. The point being made, which you seem to have missed, is that in many of the most expensive areas, salaries rise at a fraction of the rate that cost of living does.

    5. Re:Why London? by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'm thinking along those same lines. If Google offered me a job but told me I would have to move to their new HQ in London, for me it would be far less attractive than less crowded, less expensive cities.
      If you want to be in GB, why not Edinborough or Oxford? If you want the tech vibes, why not Berlin or Stockholm?
      Why not move to a completely "new" town in an attractive location, and found a new tech scene there? Like a beautiful town in Italy or Spain?

      London of all places would be pretty low on my list of great places to work. But I guess Google must have their good reasons.

    6. Re:Why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For the love of God, don't do Oxford - the only place LESS affordable to live in the UK than London. Build it in Sunderland, or Wolverhampton. Somewhere affordable that it would revolutionize this local economy.

    7. Re:Why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if they are in kings cross, its not exactly difficult to get to there from just about anywhere in the midlands or the north, given that kings cross, st pancras and euston are all within spitting distance of each other, and its only a few stops from paddington, marleybone, farringdon and liverpool street.

    8. Re:Why London? by Coisiche · · Score: 2

      If you do ever visit Edinburgh I'd recommend refraining from calling it Edinborough because that does tend to irritate the locals. I don't know the international phonetic alphabet, and I don't think slashdot could handle the symbols anyway, but we say it something like ed-in-burr-uh. And sometimes as ehm-bra which is supposed to a mocking impersonation of how a weegie (citizen of Glasgow) would say it.

    9. Re:Why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup pretty much follows my experiences living there too... I had more friends from Aus living in London than I did in Aus at one point.

    10. Re:Why London? by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 1

      I know it's called Edinburgh, I looked it up on Wikipedia a short time ago because I wanted to check out the history behind the castle.
      No idea what drove me to refer to it as "Edinborough" :-/

    11. Re:Why London? by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 1

      Wow, I honestly had no idea Oxford is even more expensive than London.

    12. Re:Why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Network effects. Most of the really interesting jobs in UK tech are in London, so most of the really great hires move there for the jobs. So if you want to hire great people, London has most of them. And the cycle continues.

      Also, London wages are much higher. I've just turned down a job in London for one that's more interesting but pays £30k less outside of London, and that's generally the kind of gap across the board. I'm still earning more than double the average salary for the UK, so it's not like I picked a low paying job. It's even true after you take the absurd cost of living into consideration. Places like Bath and Brighton are very expensive, but their wages aren't inflated at a corresponding rate the way London wages are.

    13. Re: Why London? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      House prices are slightly more expensive than in London, however London still has far higher living expenses and rent. However, since London is now an artless identikit homogeneous wasteland of grey rectangular "luxury" flats and restaurants with little else, it's no longer an attractive place to live or work regardless of cost.

  6. Pay your fair share of taxes, Google by Atmchicago · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sure, it's easy to splurge on these luxuries when you play financial double Irish-Dutch sandwich games. How about putting tax money back into society, like everyone else does?

    --

    You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.

    1. Re:Pay your fair share of taxes, Google by pauljlucas · · Score: 0
      They are paying their fare share. You don't actually think that any company or individual would voluntarily pay more taxes than they are legally required to, do you?

      If you'd like Google to pay more taxes, then you have to get politicians to enact tax laws that require additional taxes. Of course the downside is that Google is free to leave the jurisdiction in question. In that case, not only aren't they paying any taxes at all, they're also not providing local jobs for thousands of people, plus the ripple effect of all those employees being in the area (buying food, drinks, i.e., pumping money into the local economy).

      --
      If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
    2. Re:Pay your fair share of taxes, Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, best capitalist speech.

  7. How many transgender bathrooms? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you're building big, you gotta have bathrooms for at least four genders so everyone feels safe.

    1. Re:How many transgender bathrooms? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Oh great, somebody's forgetting about furries again.

  8. Well this is stupid by Ryanrule · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The U.K. Is a dying market. And no longer a tax haven for you euro business. I expect this is dependent on a reversal of brexit. Or rather, an enticement to not leave.

  9. But what about Brexit? by SEE · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was assured that Brexit would mean large companies pulling out of Britain, not building big new facilities there.

    1. Re:But what about Brexit? by Jzanu · · Score: 1

      It will in reality. This is a bribe. With as much practical use as the olympic pool.

    2. Re:But what about Brexit? by swb · · Score: 1

      It's still culturally at the center of a global empire, even though the actual empire is long gone.

      I also think London has a transcendent quality about it, being in Europe, but not of Europe, that has an appeal above and beyond any specific trade bloc or treaty. Especially for Americans and other English centric groups.

    3. Re:But what about Brexit? by what+about · · Score: 1

      I am risking my karma here, but whatever, please read before posting reply

      You probably have a better perspective of reality if you consider the two following concept
      1) You need to listen to people grumbling and complaining, even the so called "uneducated", they are still people and they are complaining.
      It is no good to just say "you complain for nothing, the problem does not exist", a solution that solves the problem MUST be put forward
      Eg: In Italy we have horde of illegal economic migrants (only a few are actually from war zones) and people are grumbling and complaining
      It is no good to say "welcome all", common people just see trough the bullshit of the "immigration mafia"

      2) Consider that if you are in a group of "not very smart people" you may be better if you are alone and free to move.
      Europe now has no common language, no common culture, no common policy, only one productive and strong state (germany), all the rest is a mess.
      Starting from Greece, then Italy, then possibly Spain, France... and the top is Frau Merkel

      So, before declaring that brexit will be a disaster for Britan, well, it depends.
      If British people get down to work, if they do what they used to do best (trade) they may actually be better off without the bunch of European states.

      We will see, interesting times...

    4. Re:But what about Brexit? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The government made some as yet unknown promises to keep Nissan in the UK, and now everyone is lining up to get a sweet deal out of them. This HQ is only at the planning stage, once approved Google can begin extracting concessions from the government with the threat of cancellation.

      If Brexit goes really badly, they can always scale back or cancel anyway. I expect Nissan will if we crash out with no deal and the government inevitably refuses to cover the huge tariffs on their vehicles.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    5. Re:But what about Brexit? by phantomflanflinger · · Score: 1

      May has promised Nissan something they won't get (that's what politicians do) but they won't pull out because by the time they realise it will be too late to do so. Google but won't get any NEW special treatment in the UK - just the special treatment they already get. No change necessary. We need a new law about Brexit: a variant of Godwin's Law. Farage's Law? But, until that law is passed: Brexit will make little difference economically. All the major corporations inside the EU want trade with the UK to continue as normal, EU bureaucrats will say that's not possible but then they will give in and blame everything on Jean-Claude Juncker - once he's safely out of office in 2019. Negotiations will take three years at least. Trump on the other hand, could cause a recession throughout the western world and still the influential remoaners in London will find a way to blame it on the Brexit.

      --
      shin phantomflanflinger
    6. Re:But what about Brexit? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I'm amazed Nissan was dumb enough to accept a guarantee from the government... May might not even be PM in a week's time. In fact I'd say the odds are against it, because even if she wins but fails to increase her majority when starting with a 25 point lead, she will be forced to resign.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  10. WHEN will London begin to suffer over Brexit? by mi · · Score: 1

    It will in reality.

    When?

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    1. Re:WHEN will London begin to suffer over Brexit? by Jzanu · · Score: 1

      Once there are actual policy changes due to Brexit. Right now the pro-leave campaigners are riding on short public attention-spans, but the UK has a slightly more sophisticated democracy that is resilient to sabotage, and will most likely right the ship by destroying May and the conservatives, and reversing course to remain in the EU.

    2. Re:WHEN will London begin to suffer over Brexit? by Ryanrule · · Score: 1

      The poor morons are already suffering more. Same as the trump voters on the dole in the us.

    3. Re:WHEN will London begin to suffer over Brexit? by mi · · Score: 1

      Once there are actual policy changes due to Brexit.

      Once again, when? Need not be precise — you can be off by 1-3 years. Name the year...

      slightly more sophisticated democracy [...] reversing course to remain in the EU

      Wait, wait, wait... I have not studied the issue personally, because I'm not British, and so have no opinion, whether Brexit is good or bad for that country (or the EU). But I do know, what "Democracy" means. The elite's intent and/or ability to go against the will of the people — the will, that, for better or worse, was clearly and unambiguously expressed in a nation-wide referendum — is the opposite of Democracy. I sure hope, they will not, in fact, be able to do it, nor are even planning to try...

      But whether or not they do, you have been forever exposed as an arrogant anti-Democratic snob, who pretends to know better than the "unwashed masses" and only appeals to the concept of "Democracy" when it suits you, ready to abandon its principles, when that cantankerous Demos rejects your ideas...

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    4. Re:WHEN will London begin to suffer over Brexit? by mi · · Score: 1

      The poor morons are already suffering more.

      This was a perfect opportunity to offer citations, but you missed it... I wonder, why...

      Same as the trump voters on the dole in the us.

      Stipulating this is true — and you offer no citations for some reason, people voting against their own selfish interest for the betterment — real or perceived — of the country, are to be applauded and celebrated, not condescended to.

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    5. Re:WHEN will London begin to suffer over Brexit? by Jzanu · · Score: 2

      Once conservatives propose it. God damn, you are a bad troll. The only demographic that voted leave were pensioners, while every other worker voted remain. Broken down, those that will actually face consequences voted to stay while those deluded with propaganda and fantasy for leave. The EU is the future.

    6. Re:WHEN will London begin to suffer over Brexit? by Ryanrule · · Score: 0

      Yeah based on your sig, you aren't worth the pixels. Go collect your welfare check.

    7. Re:WHEN will London begin to suffer over Brexit? by mi · · Score: 0

      The only demographic that voted leave were pensioners, while every other worker voted remain

      Stipulating your unsourced statistics is true, you are, once again, exposing yourself as undemocratic. Because, in your "sophisticated" opinion, pensioners are less equal than other voters.

      I get it — screw the elderly and their outdated opinions... Living beyond 75 is unethical anyway...

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    8. Re:WHEN will London begin to suffer over Brexit? by Jzanu · · Score: 1

      Go fuck yourself you stupid illiterate troll. Your obsession on "when" may actually be "never" because the UK is smart enough to have a political system that respects the actual will of the people over time, not just at special junctures where abuse and manipulation occur.

    9. Re:WHEN will London begin to suffer over Brexit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or maybe the pensioners are just as equal, up until the point at which they're dead. In the near future the leave-voters will be a minority.

  11. Nice sensationalism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This would sound even more impressive than ONE MILLION square feet, if you used an even smaller unit of area. TEN BILLION SQUARE MILLIMETERS!

    Or, you know, you could just say it's 9 hectares like a normal person would :p

    1. Re:Nice sensationalism by harlequinn · · Score: 1

      Would it kill you to use a couple more significant digits? ;)

      9.29 hectares or 92900 square meters.

      Or as you wrote, ten billion square millimeters. It is highly impressive.

  12. Nice architecture, but... by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

    Nice looking architectureâ, but they're still sitting at open plan desks. Guess we know how much Google really values their precious "Googlers". Talk is cheap, but real estate is fucking expensive.

    1. Re:Nice architecture, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure the desks will be smaller and closer together than in the pictures. At a previous employer the 'new' desks were so slim that my feet would hit the divider in front of me without stretching my legs. Very little room for the actual keyboard even with a flat screen monitor, I can't imagine the putting a CRT on that. The CEO quickly approved new desks with actuall useable space on them when prospect candidates commented on how cheap it looked.

    2. Re:Nice architecture, but... by jandersen · · Score: 1

      Nice looking architectureÃ, but they're still sitting at open plan desks. Guess we know how much Google really values their precious "Googlers". Talk is cheap, but real estate is fucking expensive.

      However, they added a nice feature, if you can stand looking at the glossy pictures: padded cells. Any way, talk isn't the only cheap commodity - drawing up glossy plans like this doesn't mean they are going to build, I think.

    3. Re:Nice architecture, but... by Reverend+Green · · Score: 1

      I don't see the padded cells in the pictures attached to the story. Where are they?

  13. Car Park by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From the top, with the trees it looks ok, but from the side or street level it looks, to me, like a giant 1980s car park.

  14. What happened to "save the environment!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Complaining about others actions while fuckin up the world... Nice...

  15. That's where the other %22 tax went... by Smid · · Score: 1

    Just last year, given they paid about 3% in UK tax.

  16. Excruciating by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is so excruciating listening to Americans talk about Brexit.