Our new offices in King’s Cross, London will be officially opened today by Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.
The newly built offices are a substantial investment in London with more than 620,000 square feet of office space and almost 5,000 workstations. Part of the carbon neutral King’s Cross estate, the offices were constructed using leading sustainable building techniques and are being entirely supplied by green gas. They will be home to engineering teams working on Instagram, Reality Labs (which is building the future of connection within virtual and augmented reality), Workplace, and Ads & Business Products.
London is already our largest engineering hub outside the US with more than 4,000 employees based at offices in Brock Street, Rathbone Place, Shaftesbury Avenue and now King’s Cross.
“We’re honoured that The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall are officially opening our newly built King’s Cross offices. London is already our largest tech hub outside of the US and our new campus will now be home to thousands of high-skilled engineers. Our teams here are building innovative technologies to connect billions of people around the world and help small businesses grow, while also keeping our services safe.”
Steve Hatch, Vice President for Northern Europe
Supporting Ukrainian People
During the visit, Their Royal Highnesses will hear from Community Leaders including Facebook Group Admins as well as Nicola Mendelsohn about our work to support the people of Ukraine.
The Prince of Wales will also have a discussion with admins of two Facebook groups in Poland that connect Ukrainian refugees with resources for transport, accommodation, clothing, medication and more from group members. And will hear about how groups in the UK are also helping coordinate volunteering for Ukrainian people – including a group who has helped gather donations and share resources for hundreds of potential hosts for Ukrainian refugees.
Innovations Built by London Engineers
Their Royal Highnesses will be hosted by Nicola Mendelsohn, our VP Global Business Group, and Steve Hatch, our VP Northern Europe to see different examples of innovative technology built by engineers in London, including:
- Reality Labs: Demonstrations of Meta Quest 2, including the National Geographic app; the Story Time app on Portal where a story can be read with animations, music and effects during a call; and Ray-Ban Stories — smart glasses that let you capture photos and video, share your adventures, and listen to music or take phone calls.
- Jubilee AR filters: An early preview of the official Jubilee Pageant AR filter, designed in partnership with artist Gabriella Marcella on Spark AR. The filter will be rolled out on Instagram to help people celebrate the Jubilee.
- Connectivity: A briefing on the 2Africa subsea cable, which, alongside a number of other global partners, shows how we are investing in and will connect Africa, Europe and the Middle East to bring affordable, high-speed internet to 3 billion people.
- Online safety: An overview of steps we’re taking to remove harmful content and keep young people safe online, including new tools and products like Family Centre.
- WhatsApp chatbots: Examples of social impact chatbot services on WhatsApp, including the “Loneliness” chatbot created in partnership with the Jo Cox Foundation to connect people experiencing loneliness with support and resources.
Their Royal Highnesses will officially open the building by unveiling a digital plaque marking the occasion.
