Google has gone to great lengths to make their
offices fun for employees,
but those working at the new super-headquarters in London have the best
deal of them all. Not only are the enormous 160,000 square foot
facilities decked out in re-purposed furnishings designed to recreate
the comfort of a London townhouse, but the 9th floor rooftop garden
features small allotments that allow employees to grow veggies and
herbs! This is not the first Google project undertaken by
PENSON, but it is certainly their most sustainable - just a few requirements shy of
meeting LEED Platinum.
Located in
Renzo Piano’s
Central St. Giles Building in Covent Garden, the new super headquarters
feature a series of indoor and outdoor workspaces, a gymnasium and
dance studio, along with several restaurants, cafes and comfortable
rendezvous areas. These are all themed spaces that feature many
recycled furnishings
that allowed the designers to keep costs low. Also, in keeping with
Google’s in-house policy, no toxic materials were used and many of the
floors and trimmings are comprised of
certified wood.
Among the workspaces are outdoor balconies or “
secret gardens”
fronted by trimmed hedges that provide a solar screen and some privacy
(not to mention some good old-fashioned greenery!) But talk to anyone on
the street and they’ll tell you that the
rooftop allotments
are among the most enviable feature of this new corporate headquarters.
Employees have to sign up for a waiting list to use the allotments, and
anyone who neglects theirs will be booted out. But once they’re in,
they can nurture root vegetables and herbs in small tubes made from
responsibly-sourced timber and cook them at home.
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