- Google is buying an office in London for $1 billion in an effort to get staff back to workplaces.
- Google now has 6,400 employees but the new office will allow the firm to boost headcount to 10,000.
- The company said the office will have quiet zones, team pods, and outdoor covered working spaces.
Google will spend $1 billion on a new office building in London in a big bet on its staff returning to workspaces.
The tech giant announced in a statement on Friday that it's purchasing the Central Saint Giles development based in central London, which it already has a lease on.
Buying the development will allow Google to increase the number of employees from 6,400 to 10,000 in the country, Ronan Harris, vice president of Google UK and Ireland, said in the statement.
Harris said the majority of Google's UK staff want the flexibility of working in the office and working from home a few days a week. Others employees want to work fully remotely.
The office will include quiet zones, lounge areas, team pods for collaboration between colleagues, and outdoor covered working spaces so staff can work in the fresh air, Harris added.
There will also be "campfire" spaces for employees, according to a Financial Times report. These spaces are circular meeting rooms for video calls inside the building.
The $1 billion office will be used "as a place for in-person collaboration and connection," Harris said in the statement.
The Silicon Valley firm had hired almost 700 more people in the past year, according to Harris.
Google said in early December that it had delayed its office return in the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa beyond January 10. It did so in light of the Omicron coronavirus variant and consequent restrictions, according to a memo obtained by Insider.