The search is over

The new Google offices at 123 Buckingham Palace Road in Victoria, London has certainly created a stir among the corporate real estate community. The new office is for over 320 staff, with the expansion to 123 Buckingham Palace Road starting with Google leasing the entire third floor of 40,000 ft2 in the late summer of 2010. Staff moved into the office in November 2010. Google have since leased another floor if the same building and will occupy that floor in the summer.

Scott Brownrigg Interior Design working with the client representatives at Google, Jane Preston and Joe Borrett have created a heavily themed office environment that is responding to the Google brief that most offices around the world should reflect the local city or country.

By the seaside
The theme of this office is London-Brighton which takes inspiration from the location near Victoria Train station and the historic train link between the two cities. As a result the office has a collection of iconic Brighton or London objects and images that add to the look and offer alternative work or meeting spaces for staff and visitors. Brightly coloured timber slatted beach huts are small interview meeting rooms, giant colourful dice are individual video conference booths, dodgem cars are available as informal break out seats and even red telephone boxes are used as quiet spaces for private calls. Informal seating is created from rock candy striped high density foam cushions and large vinyl graphics of Brighton scenes adorn walls throughout.

The reception area is a high impact Google branded space as the giant letters of Google form the backdrop to the glowing yellow reception desk. Sliding glass doors in the centre of the two O’s open to reveal small meeting rooms behind.  The Google reception certainly takes the concept of creating a powerful first impression to a new level.

Google see the health and welfare of their staff as extremely important and this office manages to fit within the 40,000 ft2 floor plate a fully fitted out gym, spa/massage/shower facility, and an impressive Asian fusion cafeteria serving a variety of Asian dishes including fresh sushi made daily. All the food and drinks and other amenities are free for staff and visitors.

Future spaces
Jane Preston, the Google UK Facilities Manager commented “The first impressions by visitors and our staff have been very positive. The project fits well with our real estate and HR strategy and will definitely help support our growth plans. We see the work environment as a major recruitment factor for us to compete for the best talent and this new office certainly does that.”

The office design is fun and could be seen by critics as temporary or Disney- like  however as Ken Giannini the Interior Design Director of Scott Brownrigg explains: “If you strip away the applied look and themed finishes you reveal a very serious workplace environment with a good mix of worksettings and a well thought out flow of spaces. Scott Brownrigg intentionally kept the design very light touch because the lease is for only five years. For example the beach huts stop short of the ceiling and do not interfere with building services above the ceiling.”

“We have meeting rooms of different sizes, open plan and some cellular workspaces, break out areas, very functional support spaces and logical circulation. Overall the space is extremely efficient considering the significant amount of health and welfare space allowed for. Why not mix a fun environment with a serious workplace strategy?”