Facebook confirms 600,000 sq ft Kings Cross office deal

by • News, Property

Facebook has signed its long-discussed deal to take 600,000 sq ft across three buildings at the Kings Cross regeneration project. The deal will see the social media giant occupy around 15 percent of the total scheme, The new offices will offer up to 6,000 work stations where workers will focus on the creation of artificial intelligence (AI), Virtual reality (VR) and monitoring ‘harmful content’ on the social networking platform. Engineers at the scheme will also work on integrating the Oculus Go virtual reality mobile headset into the platform. Tech giants such as Google and Youtube have already moved into large nearby offices, while Universal Music is set to to move into a new headquarters at Four Pancras Square in September.

The new offices, which are set to open in 2021, will see Facebook double its current UK real estate footprint. The news also comes only seven months after Facebook opened a 247,000 sq ft site in Rathbone Place in Fitzrovia, creating 800 new jobs.

Steve Hatch, Facebook’s managing director for northern Europe said: “The UK is one of the best places in the world to be a technology company and we’re investing here for the long term. Many of Facebook’s most significant global products from Workplace to social VR applications for Oculus were developed right here in London, in what is now our biggest engineering base outside the US.”