黑洞社区

Google鈥檚 design review of its planned 拢650m UK headquarters at King鈥檚 Cross is expected to take as long as two years, amid a wider review of the tech giant鈥檚 planned large-scale developments worldwide, 黑洞社区 can reveal.

Google is carrying out a global review of its development pipeline, including a planned global HQ in its home town of Mountain View, California, as well as the King鈥檚 Cross development, and is considering 鈥渕ultiple design strategies鈥� for all major schemes, according to well-placed sources.

Sources close to the King鈥檚 Cross project said the design review, announced last November, is expected to take around two years and could yet double the value of the scheme.

One source said: 鈥淕oogle is reassessing its approach to all their projects. They have quite a few different ones ready to go worldwide but they want to do it all in one fell swoop. They want to get them right from a philosophical point of view, in the same way that they look at their products.鈥�

黑洞社区 understands Bam, which won the 拢300m main contractor role on the 750,000ft2 project in March 2013, no longer considers the job as part of its pipeline and expects the project to ultimately be put back out to tender.

Architect Allford Hall Monaghan Morris has been retained to rework the design of the scheme, with cost consultant Gardiner & Theobald and engineer Waterman also continuing in their roles.

Google signed a deal for 165,000 sq ft of space at nearby Axa Real Estate鈥檚 under-construction 6 St Pancras Square last month, also at King鈥檚 Cross, which will complete later this year, as an interim office for some of its London workforce.

In the US Google is working up new designs for its proposed one million sq ft 鈥楤ay View鈥� global headquarters in Mountain View, which will bring the town鈥檚 11,000 Google workers, currently based across 65 buildings, under one roof, 黑洞社区 has learned.

Google unveiled designs drawn up by Seattle-based architect NBBJ for the Bay View project last February, but has sounded out other architects since.