Apple Unveils Plans for London Headquarters at Redeveloped Power Station

Apple just unveiled its plans to move its U.K. headquarters to London’s iconic Battersea Power Station, an unused complex currently undergoing a massive development project costing billions of dollars.

The company will lease about 500,000 square feet over six floors in the central boiler house for 1,400 employees currently located across London. Apple said it plans to centralize its London operations there by 2021, once the power station construction is completed, the Guardian reports. The developers initially put the cost of that project at $10.4 billion (£8 billion).

“[The Apple deal] is a further sign that London is open to the biggest brands in the world and the leading city for trade and investment,” said London mayor Sadiq Khan in a statement.

The power station has sat empty and out of use on the South bank of the Thames River for 33 years, since it was decommissioned and stopped generating power in 1983. A Malaysian consortium announced it would develop the 43-acres in 2012 into a massive office, home and retail zone. It will have more than 8.5 million square feet of space in total once the project is complete.

[The Guardian]