Google To Build New HQ At King's Cross

Dean Nicholas
By Dean Nicholas Last edited 134 months ago
Google To Build New HQ At King's Cross


Google is to build a new £1 billion UK headquarters at a site beside King's Cross station.

The firm is planning a building of between 7 and 11 storeys on the slender 2.4 acre site, which stretches north from the station's new western concourse as far as the Regent's Canal. Happily for Google, the site sits within the privately-managed King's Cross Central, meaning that, for example, any protesters who might wish to complain about the company's tax practices could be moved on swiftly and with minimum disruption.

Employees at the company's existing offices, in Victoria and Holborn, can expect to move in from 2016. As for what the building will be like: Google is famous for packing its work environments with all manner of wacky designs and gimmicks — take a look at this photo gallery from their office in Central St Giles for proof.

Simon Allford, of the architect Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, enthused that the building would "articulate a conversation between the world within and the city beyond". Based on that, gnomic turn of phrase, and considering that Google bought Motorola last year, we're hopeful of seeing a giant replica of a StarTAC phone.

Photo / erase

Last Updated 18 January 2013