Google to build vast UK HQ

Google is to build a new 2.4 acre UK headquarters which could reportedly be worth as much as £1bn on the Kings Cross Central development.

The search engine giant has snapped up a plot on one of London's biggest regeneration schemes, where it will build a 1 million square foot office.

A separate source with knowledge of the deal said Google was investing 650 million pounds to buy and develop the site. The office building will be worth up to 1 billion pounds when it is finished in 2016, a second source said.

"This is a big investment by Google, we're committing further to the UK - where computing and the web were invented. It's good news for Google, for London and for the UK," Google's Vice President for Northern and Central Europe, Matt Brittin, said in a statement.

Google will move from its current offices in the UK capital's Victoria and Holborn districts in 2016 when the building completes. Construction on the site will start in late 2013 and the building will range in height from 7 to 11 storeys.