Amazon bags new 12-storey London office in Smithfield

Amazon may have been in the spotlight over its controversial tax receipts of late, but the company is not letting the negative press affect its UK growth plans.

Yesterday the online retailer announced that it had signed a lease on a major new London project that will see the US firm occupy a large new office development near Smithfield Market.

The 12-storey space will be able to house 1,600 employees when fully built, with Amazon expecting hundreds of its existing staff to move in by the end of the year.

Last year the company opened an engineering hub alongside its UK headquarters in Slough and is touting the London space as an extension of these bases, not as a replacement.

“This new office location will provide the space we require for hundreds of our existing employees as well as many more that we will hire in the future,” said Christopher North, Amazon UK’s managing director.

“We will continue to create thousands of jobs in the coming years across the UK.”