Google To Lease More London Office Space, Despite Remote Working

Google is reportedly in advance talks to acquire more office space in London, despite recently extending its internal policies governing staff working from home.

The Guardian newspaper reported that Google is seeking to lease an additional 70,000 sq ft in office buildings close to its £1bn UK headquarters in London.

This is despite Google in July announcing it was allowing its staff to work from home if they want, until at least July 2021. Google has approximately 4,500 staff in the UK.

Office space

According to the Guardian, Alphabet’s Google is already in the process of building a 330 metre-long office building nicknamed the “landscraper” next to King’s Cross railway station.

But now it seems Google is in advanced talks to lease more space in nearby offices.

Google is also planning to take over an eight-year lease of around 70,000 sq ft across two buildings nearby in King’s Cross from publishing company Macmillan, the Guardian reported, citing a recent report in The Times newspaper.

The firm has also agreed to extend a lease at the Central Saint Giles development near Tottenham Court Road, for a further decade.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But it should be noted that Google is not the only big name tech firm acquiring more office space during the global Coronavirus pandemic.

Facebook last month acquired more office space in the US, when it purchased a 400,000-square foot campus complex located in Bellevue, Washington, which was the former headquarters buildings of outdoor retailer REI.

Hybrid workplace

Yet Google’s request for more space comes despite many large firms attempting to shrink the size of their offices due to the coronavirus pandemic, with big name tech firms allowing workers to continue working for home for many more months.

There is also a prediction that this remote working trend could continue post pandemic, with some suggesting that staff may not return to spending five days a week in the office.

Effectively this could see workforces in the future adopting a hybrid workplace model that involves both office and remote working.

A number of other tech firms, including Twitter and Facebook, have also given staff the ability to work from home forever if they want.