FOXES have beaten Google to the roof of its new HQ — after the opening of the £1billion “landscraper” was pushed back to next year, adding to the firm’s woes.
Its rooftop garden is finished and been reportedly colonised by the animals — though much of the interior is unfinished.
Work on the King’s Cross building in London, known as Platform G, began in 2017, with staff told of a 2024 moving-in date.
One recent visitor described it as “a shell”, and there is said to be scepticism inside the firm about whether the latest timetable will stick.
The low-rise colossus is longer than the Shard is tall, stretching 330metres and rising to 72metres.
It will offer space for up to 7,000 employees, with a swimming pool, gym and basketball court, plus a roofscape running track.
But construction setbacks have dogged the project.
Lendlease, which managed the build, sold its UK construction arm to private equity this year, with the business reverting to the Bovis name.
ISG — hired to fit out the interior — collapsed under heavy debts last September, and Structure Tone has taken over.
Insiders say divisions of Alphabet — Google’s parent firm — are jockeying to be the anchor tenant, with artificial intelligence lab Deepmind keen to lead.
KEIR FACES NUKE U-TERN
SIR Keir Starmer’s plan for mini nuclear reactors on Anglesey risk the axe due to a colony of 2,000 breeding terns.
Conservation groups warn building noise and disturbance could drive the protected birds away from Cemlyn.
The risks echo problems that helped sink Hitachi’s earlier nuclear scheme at nearby Wylfa.
However, a government taskforce has called for faster planning and fewer disproportionate nature rules.
Its report highlighted the £700million spent on fish protection at Hinkley Point C in Somerset — dubbed the “fish disco”.
FIRM ON ROLL
BAKERY chain Gail’s is planning to open 40 stores in England over the next year as it targets more locations outside London.
It has opened 36 cafes over the past financial year, including in the South West.
The next 40 are set to be open by February.
Sales hit £278million in the year to the end of February 2025, up 20 per cent on the year before.
But pre-tax losses widened to £7.8million as it invested in stores and staff.
£24m DIGI FINE
VIRGIN MEDIA has been fined £23.8million after putting vulnerable clients at “risk of harm” by moving them to digital landlines.
The firm failed to identify the status of its “telecare” customers, who have emergency alarm systems that connect to a monitoring service — meaning those affected did not receive the right amount of support.
Devices were prevented from connecting to alarm monitoring centres, Ofcom found.
