Google has taken out a lease on 40,000 square feet of office space at 123 Buckingham Palace Road in Victoria. The internet company is paying GBP 65 per square foot for the prestigious new location. This would mean its yearly rent would come to GBP 10.4 million.
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Both Sony and Facebook had also been interested in the space, it was rumoured. Among Google’s new neighbours in the building designed by famed Italian architect Renzo Piano, will be TV outfit NBC Universal.
Matt Brittin, the Google manager in the UK, said that Google would be designing its new office “in the Google style.”
He added that the acquisition was “all part of our continued investment in our UK operations, and we’re hiring rapidly across all our teams.”
The deal is currently among the biggest to take place in London so far this year.
Recently Google has also leased more land in Mountain View, the Californian town where its headquarters are located.
It intends to add buildings to the famous ‘Googleplex’, the name of its sprawling complex of buildings.
The Googleplex has a multitude of cafeterias, a gym, a laundry room, a games room and multiple lounges where employees can go to relax.
Recently Google announced that it would fight the US government’s plans to instil tough new anti-piracy measures on the internet.
Eric Schmidt, the company’s executive chairman, said on Wednesday that such measures would harm freedom of speech.
He said: “If there is a law that requires DNSs [domain name systems, the protocol that allows users to connect to websites] to do X and it’s passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the president of the United States and we disagree with it then we would still fight it.
“If it’s a request the answer is we wouldn’t do it, if it’s a discussion we wouldn’t do it.”
Editor’s notes: The office building in Victoria is popular with many companies that have chosen to rent office space there. There is also WeWork Space at 123 Buckingham Palace Road.
The international flex space provider offers move-in ready lockable private offices for teams of all sizes, dedicated desks in shared offices, hot desks in coworking spaces, and meeting rooms for hire.