Amazon to open London development centre

Amazon today announced a new hub in central London to focus on the development of digital media products.

The eight-floor workplace in Glasshouse Yard, near Barbican and close to Silicon Roundabout, will house the design and development teams from LoveFilm and Pushbutton – both owned by Amazon – along with software development engineers, graphic designers and user interface (UI) professionals.

Although specific projects have not been named by Amazon, the company revealed the areas it would be working on, which include creating interactive digital services for TVs, games consoles, smartphones and PCs, further development for digital media on its website, and surrounding that with services and application programming interfaces (APIs) for the new inventions.

There will also be room to extend on existing products, such as LoveFilm streaming services.

The announcement was welcomed by London mayor Boris Johnson, who called it a “splendid feather in our cap” for London’s growing technology sector.

“We know we have the talent, the space and infrastructure to make the most of the digital economy,” he added. “Amazon's investment propels us well up the league table of global tech cities and we thank it for its vote of confidence.”  

The centre will open in the coming months, and the new managing director, Paula Byrne, claimed London was an obvious location choice.

“London is a hotbed of tech talent, and testament to that fact is Amazon choosing the capital as the location for its new global digital media development centre,” she said.

“Innovation is part of the Amazon DNA, and we are creating a British centre of excellence to design and develop the next generation of TV and film services for a wide range of digital devices,” added Byrne.

Amazon's UK headquarters will remain in Slough, with an additional London office on Newman Street in the West End.