GOOGLE’S NEW SUPER-HEADQUARTERS

The London headquarters marks Google’s most sustainable yet, and is 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, and of course, some good old-fashioned greenery.

The rooftop allotments, however, are by far the most enviable feature of the 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.