Google Moves from Victoria Office Space HQ to New London Office

Online search and technology giant Google is set to relocate staff from its existing Victoria office space and another office in Holborn, to a new headquarters in King’s Cross, North London.

The £1bn property deal will see Google staff relocating from their existing Victoria office space headquarters to a new 2.4 acre site. Google is planning to build two new office buildings at the King’s Cross location, of seven and eleven storeys respectively, which sits on a former industrial yard that once handled goods such as fish, coal and grain.

The site is part of a larger redevelopment and regeneration project which will eventually contain homes, offices and shops. The company has had its eye on the King’s Cross area for a while.

Traditionally, Google – like other major multinational firms – would rent their office space on long-term conventional leases. But now the technology giant is purchasing the site to build its own office space, which provides the opportunity to create a bespoke environment from the ground up.

And Google is no stranger to creating innovative, quirky office space solutions.

Just a little over a year ago, LondonOffices.com reported on Google’s fit-out of their Victoria office space. The US company completely revamped the fourth floor of their headquarters and gave their engineers virtually free rein to design the work space in a way that matched the Google culture. As you might imagine, the engineers certainly delivered. The Victoria office space was transformed into a work area that resembled a completely different technological age to standard office space design.

The results produced four restaurants (including tapas, sushi and a coffee lab with 19 different blends of coffee), computer games, a pool table and a music room. And in order to catch great ideas from their wandering workers, some of the walls were adorned entirely with whiteboards – allowing engineers to jot down any thoughts as soon as they think of them. It’s also a doodler’s heaven.

Now Google is planning to leave all this behind as it prepares to begin construction this year on its new head office in King’s Cross. But no doubt the new office space will be just as quirky, innovative and Google-centric as the last one – if not more so.

Google’s Matt Brittin, Vice President for Northern & Central Europe, said the move was “good news for Google, London and the UK”. He added: “This is a big investment by Google. We’re committing further to the UK, where computing and the web were invented.”

The company is aiming to relocate to its new North London offices in 2016.

To find out more about Kings Cross or Victoria office space go to Londonoffices.com.