Amazon has announced plans to open a new London office with the potential for more than 3,000 extra jobs.The online retailer, which already employs 1,700 people in its existing UK offices, said its main corporate office would switch to a building in Shoreditch in 2017.
Amazon said its plans would increase its total office-based capacity to more than 5,000 employees in London.
Christopher North, Amazon UK’s managing director, said: “We have already invested well over £1bn and created more than 7,000 permanent jobs across the UK.
“To support our continued growth in the UK, we have secured this exceptional building giving us the capacity to hire thousands of new employees in London in the coming years, in addition to the thousands of permanent roles we will create across our UK fulfilment and customer service centres.”
Amazon said its decision meant all corporate employees would be located in London by the summer of 2015 across three offices within the capital.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, welcomed the news.
He said: “Our city is the perfect home for top tech talent and I am very pleased that Amazon have confirmed their intention to create thousands of new jobs at a major new base in east London.
“We are proving time and again that we have the right places and people to support this vibrant sector.”
Amazon said it new Principal Place building would offer it 600,000 square feet over 15 storeys.
The site, the company added, would provide “half an acre of public piazza and events space” and 20,000 square feet of retail, including cafes and restaurants offering alfresco dining.
The developers, Brookfield Property Partners, said Principal Place was destined to become the “go-to” link between the City and the media-tech sector in Hackney and Shoreditch.
Its statement said: “We are delighted to have signed a lease agreement with such a prestigious anchor tenant and we can now turn our attentions to moving the development forward”.
