Amazon Opens London Media Development Centre

Amazon has announced plans to set up a digital media development centre in London, where it will employ hundreds building interactive Web services across smartphones, tablets and PCs.

Workers from two of its subsidiaries, Lovefilm and user interface designer Pushbutton, will move to the Amazon London base, which should be up and running before the end of the year. The facility, to be located near Barbican tube station, will cover 47000 square feet and eight floors.

“London is a hotbed of tech talent and testament to that fact is Amazon choosing the capital as the location for the new global digital media development centre,” said Paula Byrne, the facility’s managing director.

“Innovation is part of the Amazon DNA and we are creating a centre of excellence to design and develop the next generation of TV and film services for a wide range of digital devices.”

Beatific Boris

Mayor of London Boris Johnson was delighted that a tech behemoth like Amazon was setting up a base in the capital.

“For this wildly successful and dynamic company to choose our city to site such an important facility is a splendid feather in our cap,” he added. “Amazon’s investment propels us well up the league table of global tech cities and we thank them for their vote of confidence.”

Amazon’s centre will be located close to Tech City near the Shoreditch area of London, where the government hopes to establish a hive of IT activity. A number of industry giants have set up shop in and around that area recently, including Google, which had its Campus centre opened by chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne in March. That complex will seek to foster startups in the East London area.

Yet Amazon may face some hostility on these shores, where it is believed to be under investigation by the HMRC as it pays no tax to the UK government.

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