Amazon to double number of UK employees with new London office

Amazon’s new office opening in London in 2017 will see the company more than double its UK workforce to 5,000 employees.

Amazon is increasing its corporate presence in the UK after it was confirmed that the company has made an agreement to open a huge new office, right next to the heart of the capital’s tech industry.

After 16 years at its base in Slough, Amazon will be moving to a huge 15-storey, 600,000 square-foot building known as Principal Place just north of Liverpool Street station in the Shoreditch area.

With a swimming pool, tennis court and basketball court planned for the roof terrace and a new public piazza, the building has the potential to become a new UK HQ for the firm – although it is uncertain whether it will be based there or at its 12-storey office building down the road in Farringdon.

Staff will all switch to the central London building next year, and in 2017 it is expected many employees will begin moving over to the Shoreditch premises. Overall, the new building will give Amazon “total capacity” to accommodate 5,000 London employees, it said. Around 1,700 people are currently employed in corporate functions across Amazon’s offices, which is set to rise sharply when the building is up and running.

“To support our continued growth in the UK, we have secured this exceptional building giving us the capacity to hire thousands of new employees in London in the coming years, in addition to the thousands of permanent roles we will create across our UK fulfilment and customer service centres,” says Christopher North, managing director at Amazon UK.

The choice of location is interesting, if not surprising. Amazon will have a base just around the corner from the famed Silicon Roundabout area, where many of the UK’s top tech firms are already based.

That could mean much closer relationships – bringing Amazon nearer to potential key customers and collaborators alike.

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