Who has read the MacMagazine in recent years has certainly followed the saga of the new Apple campus in London – or, more specifically, in the old Battersea Thermal Power Plant, on the south bank of the River Thames (and famous for appearing on the cover of the «Animals», by Pink Floyd).
The first announcement of the development was made in 2016, but in 2018, we announced that Apple would be looking for alternative sites for the construction of the campus due to delayed works and other obstacles – because of this, the company announced that it would rent more than 10,000 m² of offices in the tallest building in London, as a temporary measure.
For in early 2020, years after the original announcement, it seemed that everything was finally heading towards a happy ending: the works at the Battersea Plant were resumed in full swing, and Apple would have its London campus completed sometime by 2021.
Then came the Coronavirus.
According to the CNBC, works at the Battersea Power Plant have been completely halted since the UK established the lockdown (that is, absolute quarantine) for its citizens.
According to the report, the plant area has become a kind of “ghost town” since the beginning of the pandemic, since all companies in the civil construction area have suspended (or, in the worst cases, closed) contracts with their workers.
The case of Apple is not unique: the construction of the new London headquarters of Google, in the King’s Cross district, are also stopped.
And he sees that the plans of the Mountain View giant are even bigger than those of Apple: its offices will occupy an entire building, with a 25-meter swimming pool and running track on the terrace, and will accommodate about 4,000 employees.
The Apple, on the other hand, is intended to accommodate about 1,400 people.
There is still no expectation of when the works should be resumed – everything depends, of course, on the developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and the actions taken by the British government.
The fact is that, whatever the end of it all, Apple’s expectation of opening its new campus in 2021 can now be seen as extremely unlikely.
via Cult of Mac
