It looks like Facebook will soon significantly boost its number of staff in London, as the social networking site has agreed to move into a huge, but still under construction, office space in the British capital.
Great Portland Estates has revealed that Facebook is the sole buyer of the over 227,000 square feet of office space in its development at the city’s Rathbone Square, near Tottenham Court Road. According to Sky News, Facebook’s real estate chief has declared that the impending move “highlights our commitment to invest and grow our talented teams of people based in London.”
Industry averages suggest that up to about 2,000 staffers could be based at this new office space, compared to the just above 200 people that Facebook employed at its Brock Street office in London last year.
The company’s annual charge for occupying the Rathbone Square space will be close to £17m – equivalent to just over $26m. However, the terms of the deal apparently include that Facebook will not pay any rent for the initial 30 months of its tenancy, which is fixed at 15 years from whenever the site’s construction will finish – currently planned to be February 2017.
