A second building opened a few months later to bring the new office space to 425,000 square feet. The first, at 11-21 Canal Reach, opened in early 2022 after a three-year build designed by Bennetts Associates with interiors by TP Bennett based on a concept design by Gehry Partners. The tech giant is in the process of building its largest global engineering base in two offices in London’s King’s Cross neighborhood. As much is confirmed by salary site Glassdoor, which estimates an average Meta software engineer in London can expect to earn just over $102,000 versus $169,000 in San Francisco. And available at a relative discount to Silicon Valley and New York. The highest-profile new residents include Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, who may have come for the most #1 rankings of any city in our Top 100-from Culture to Nightlife, but stayed for another of London’s assets: the best-educated citizenry on the planet.

New wealthy residents who can now afford to check off a big item on the multi-millionaire bucket list: property in the best city on the planet.Īn astonishing 61 luxury London properties-each worth $11.5 million or more-were sold in the first six months of 2022, which was the highest number in a decade. The London Underground Night Tube reopened over the summer while certain lines are slowly restoring all service, with the Piccadilly line the last to have come online in August.ĭespite much-warranted hand-wringing about the flight of talent and capital due to the pall of Brexit (and the follow-up specter of an airborne pandemic), London is hanging in just fine, relying on a dipping currency to attract investment and, of course, previously priced-out tourists. The city still tops our Promotions category, coming out in front for Insta hashtags, Facebook (or is it Meta) check-ins and TripAdvisor reviews.įortunately the city is almost back to pre-pandemic capacity, if the tube is any indication.

Not that the city’s promotion engine was waning. Of course the eyes of the world were fixed on London throughout all the tumult more than any other city-save for maybe Kyiv-reminding everyone that London is spectacular and it’s been a really long while since they visited. This has been the busiest start to summer London has seen in more than a decade-with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Royal Ascot, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Wimbledon, Boris’s resignation and, in the worst kind of end to summer, the Queen’s death and weeks of mourning. London is back! But, given the past few months, have citizens even noticed?

London global city case study