Google files plans for incredible ‘groundscraper’ headquarters in London’s King’s Cross
TECH giant Google has showcased a gigantic 11 storey building that will feature one million square feet of space and house 7,000 employees.
GOOGLE has filed plans for an incredible “groundscraper” headquarters in London’s King’s Cross.
The massive building will feature a running track on the roof, basketball courts, an Olympic swimming pool and even “pause areas” to allow staff to relax.
The tech giant has submitted an application for planning permission with Camden Council — 18 months after Google boss Larry Page reportedly tore up original plans because he felt they were too dull.
It’s hoped construction of the 11-storey, 1 million square foot building will begin in 2018.
Joe Borrett, director of real estate and construction at Google, said: “We are excited to be able to bring our London Googlers together in one campus, with a new purpose-built building that we’ve developed from the ground up.
“Our offices and facilities play a key part in shaping the Google culture, which is one of the reasons we are known for being among the best places to work in the industry.”
More than 7,000 staff will occupy the new HQ, which is the first “wholly owned and designed Google building outside the United States”.
Bjarke Ingels, founding partner at the Bjarke Ingels Group architecture firm, said: “Our design for the new Google Campus at King’s Cross is rooted in the local character of the area, taking advantage of the contextually defined building envelope while creating continuously cascading work environments that will connect Googlers across multiple floors.
“By opening up the ground floor and activating the roofscape, the light and airy workspaces are sandwiched between the terraced gardens on the roof — and market halls, auditoria and shops on the ground.”
The building has been described as a “groundscraper” because it sprawls rather than soars into the sky.
Google was named after a number called the Googol, which is written as the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.
The tech giant’s headquarters in California is known as the Googleplex, which is also a very large number.
However, we won’t bother trying to write it out because the American astronomer Carl Sagan estimated that a piece of paper with all the numbers written on it wouldn’t fit into the known universe.
This story first appeared on The Sun.
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