Apple to Move Into London's Battersea Power Station

By Giles Turner 

Apple Inc. has agreed to lease office space within London's Battersea Power Station.

The iPhone maker said it is planning to move into the site in 2021, shifting 1,400 London staff into the old coal-fired power station. The site has space for double that number of staff.

A person familiar with the matter said Apple's main 4,000-strong European headquarters will remain in Ireland. Apple has previously said it is planning to appeal the European Commission's ruling that the Irish government should recoup EUR13 billion ($14.5 billion) in allegedly unpaid taxes from Apple.

"It's a great opportunity to have our entire team working and collaborating in one location," Apple said in a statement.

U.K. Treasury chief Philip Hammond said the move was a vote of confidence in the British economy, sending a clear signal that companies "are continuing to invest in Britain's future."

Battersea Power Station--based the south bank of the River Thames a few miles away from central London--was decommissioned in 1983. Featured on the cover of Pink Floyd's 1977 album "Animals," the site languished as developers struggled to raise interest in regenerating the site.

Apple's new home, already being called its London campus, will sit in the power plant's boiler section, spreading across six floors and over 500,000 square feet.

Battersea Power Station is backed by a group of Malaysian investors at an estimated cost of $8 billion in 2012. Apple will take up around 40% of the total office space in the new development.

"It is a further sign that London is open to the biggest brands in the world and the leading city for trade and investment," said Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London.

Nicholas Winning also contributed to this article.

Write to Giles Turner at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 28, 2016 10:20 ET (14:20 GMT)

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