Facebook plans a huge new headquarters in London’s King’s Cross

Facebook is reportedly planning to triple its London office space with a huge new headquarters in King’s Cross. According to The Times, the social media company is “close to signing a deal” for the space, spanning four buildings and 700,000 square feet. The planned location lies on the same site as Google’s mammoth HQ by Thomas Heatherwick and Bjarke Ingels, currently under construction.

The area north of King’s Cross station has been subject to huge redevelopment in recent years, with one of the leading landmarks of the district being Stanton Williams’ building for Central Saint Martins, a renovated 19th-century warehouse.

The Times’ source claims Facebook would not relocate existing staff to the new building but bring in new staff, signifying the company will grow its London employee base. This goes against conflicting reports that multinational companies are choosing not to build their UK branches in the wake of Brexit.

Frank Gehry was behind the design of Facebook’s mega headquarters in California, boasting the largest open floor plan in the world and a nine-acre park on its roof. Google’s London headquarters has been in the balance for five years now, after initial plans designed by architects AHMM were given planning permission but then scrapped by Google, before the job was given to the Heatherwick/Ingels starchitect duo. Their designs were approved and started construction in late 2017.