Google delivered a vote of confidence in London’s future as a technological hub after the Brexit vote on Tuesday by announcing plans for a new building in the King’s Cross area of the city that is to house thousands of extra engineers.
Google chief executive officer Sundar Pichai said computer science has a great future in Britain, citing the talent pool, educational institutions and passion for innovation present in the country.
“That’s why we are investing in London in both engineering talent and infrastructure,” he said.
The 10-story building, Google’s first to be wholly owned and designed outside the US, will increase its presence in King’s Cross to more than 92,900m2, enough for more than 7,000 employees in total, the company said.
Google has 5,700 employees and contractors in the UK, including about 2,000 engineers housed in the recently opened building in King’s Cross where Pichai announced the expansion.
Pichai, who became chief executive officer in October last year when parent company Alphabet Inc was created, said he was optimistic about Britain’s future, despite the uncertainty caused by June’s vote to leave the EU.
“Historically, the UK has been an open and connected economy, and like a lot of businesses we are proud of and rely on the fact that we recruit the best talent from around world,” he said. “We are optimistic that this situation will continue.”
“We understand there is uncertainty and even concerns about topics like Brexit and the pace of technological change in our times, but we know for certain that Web and digital technology will be an engine of growth for the UK for years to come,” he said.
British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said the investment showed leading firms were still choosing to invest in Britain, while London Mayor Sadiq Khan said inflows remain “robust” post-Brexit.
“London isn’t just the tech capital of Europe, we are on the shoulder of New York and we are catching up with Silicon Valley,” Khan said at the event. “Investment into the capital post-Brexit remains robust, so Google’s expansion will further strengthen our city’s reputation as a global leader in digital technology.”
Pichai made reference in his speech to another event that exposed a division in a Western society — the US election.
“Recent events, including the election in the US, have clearly surfaced challenges with inequality and people feeling marginalized,” he said.
These were “long-term and difficult” problems to solve, he said, but it was his hope that Google would play a constructive role in addressing some of these challenges.
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