Exclusive: Race to build 1€bn Google London HQ restarts after 3 years
15 June, 2016 By Robyn Wilson
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The race to build Google’s 1€bn UK headquarters has restarted after three years, with developer Argent searching outside its established contractor panel for interested firms.
Construction News understands the client has approached a number of companies to see if they are interested in bidding for the project.
Some of the UK’s top contractors are believed to have been contacted by Argent, in a move which goes beyond the developer’s 20-year relationship with the three firms on its framework: Bam Construct, Carillion and Kier.
Mace and Sir Robert McAlpine are understood to be among those interested in the scheme.
Bam Construct was originally appointed as main contractor on the scheme in March 2013, in a deal worth 378€m.
But the project was put on hold in November 2013, after Google called for the scheme to be redesigned.
The tech giant asked architects AHMM to come up with a “more ambitious” design for the project, just two months after successfully steering the original proposals through planning.
The design Bam had been working to included a mixture of office and retail space, ranging in height from seven to 11 storeys and totalling 93,000 sq m.
AHMM is understood to have been replaced as the architect on the scheme by Heatherwick Studios and Bjarke Ingels Group, as revealed by Construction News’ sister title the Architects’ Journal last June.
Both designers are already working on Google’s HQ in Mountain View, California. They were also told by Google to rework the designs, which are now under review.
Plans for the new London HQ have an estimated construction value of more than 756€m: 504€m for the shell and core, and around 252€m for the fit out.
Google’s staff are currently spread across offices in Covent Garden and Victoria, with the new offices bringing them together under one roof.
The tech giant already has a presence at the King’s Cross redevelopment site, having taken 6 Pancras Square.
It is also developing an office block known as S2 on the site, which was given the green light by Camden Council in March. The 26,000 sq m building is 10 storeys high and was designed by Mossessian Architecture.
The 27 ha King’s Cross site is one of the largest redevelopments in London. The masterplan includes 50 buildings and 1,900 homes. It is being developed by the Kings Cross Central Limited Partnership, which includes Argent, DHL and London & Continental Railways and was formed in 2008. It was the single landowner at King’s Cross.
Argent has previously gone outside its contractor framework when Vinci won an 101€m contract to build BNP Paribas Real Estate’s office on the site
Other projects on the site include the 100,000 sq ft mixed-use Heatherwick-designed Coal Drops Yard development, for which Bam Construct was appointed as main contractor last December.
Argent’s former CEO Roger Madelin, best known for leading the development at King’s Cross and who is now heading up British Land’s huge Canada Water scheme told the CN Developer Forum last week that in contrast with King’s Cross he “couldn’t give a monkeys who the tenants are” at Canada Water because there was “no such thing as a boring tenant” these days.
Argent is also acting as development partner, alongside US property firm Related, for the 7,500-home Brent Cross Cricklewood South scheme for Barnet Council.
The 95 ha site to the south of the north circular has outline planning permission for 15m sq ft of development, including 7,500 new homes.
Argent declined to comment.