Facebook to open a new London office that will allow it to create 800 new UK jobs in 2018.
The office will be set up by the end of next year and about 2,300 people will work for the social media company in the UK.
This will be Facebook’s biggest engineering hub outside the US that will open during its tenth year in the UK.
Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s Europe, Middle East and Asia vice-president, said the company was “more committed than ever to the UK”. She said, “Britain’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and engineering excellence made it an ideal location for technology firms.”
The seven-floor building at Rathbone Place, near Oxford Circus in central London, was designed by Frank Gehry, the architect best known for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Engineers and developers as well as marketing and sales teams will be sitting there.
There will be also a dedicated incubator space for start-ups, called LDN-LAB in the building.
Also, UK-based start-ups will be invited to take part in three month programes designed to help kick start their businesses.
Facebook experts from disciplines including engineering, product and partnerships will work with the companies as part of the initiative.
Julian David of techUK, which represents 950 technology firms in the UK, welcomed a world-leading company such as Facebook investing in London despite the uncertainties surrounding Brexit.
Chancellor Philip Hammond said Facebook’s decision to expand in London was a “sign of confidence” in Britain. He said, “The UK is not only the best place to start a new business, it’s also the best place to grow one.”
