Google’s new Kitchener office opens its doors
Posted Jan 14, 2016 04:26:51 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A packed crowd gathered Thursday at the Breithaupt Block in downtown Kitchener to celebrate Google Canada’s new development headquarters.
The building triples Google’s office space from its former location at the Tannery, housing over 350 engineers and spanning 185,000 square feet.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was among those on hand to open the building.
“Google has always worked very hard — not just to be a good corporate citizen, but a strong, active player in Canada,” Trudeau says.
“It really is amazing to see the innovative, forward-thinking, hard-working Canadians here.”
Google’s Kitchener office has worked on a number of notable projects, including taking the reins on Gmail’s mobile application, as well as working on Chrome.
Sam Sebastian, the managing director of Google Canada, says the company has deep roots in this country.
Sebastian also notes that over 60 per cent of the engineers in Google’s Kitchener office are University of Waterloo graduates.
“There are an awful lot of startups in downtown Kitchener, and we’re thrilled about that,” adds Steven Woods, the director of engineering at Google Canada.
“I think Kitchener-Waterloo is way ahead of the curve worldwide. We maybe have one of the more successful innovation hubs in the entire world, and others have said that […] Where this will take us is to be determined.”
