Over a billion dollars, a renowned architect, and more than a decade under construction haven't prevented Google being beaten to its new London digs by unexpected tenants – urban foxes.

First announced in 2013, the Thomas Heatherwick-designed King's Cross "landscraper" – as long as the Shard is tall (310 meters) – had its last beam hoisted into place in 2022 and final touches continue, with the ad and cloud megacorp due to move in at the end of the year.

However, unless something is done before then, the 7,000 incoming Google staffers will be sharing the HQ's killer app – a rooftop garden stretching the seventh to eleventh floors and the length of the building – with members of London's rampant Vulpes vulpes population.

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This week the [2]London Centric newsletter received a tip, saying: "The contractors managing the final fit out of the new Google building in King's Cross are having to deal with a 'skulk' of foxes (apparently that is the collective noun). I'm told the foxes colonized the building in the early stages when it was still quite accessible and are now living on the top floor which is like a small park."

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The tip was later confirmed by Google, which admitted: "Fox sightings at construction sites are pretty common, and our King's Cross development is no exception. While foxes have been occasionally spotted at the site, their appearances have been brief and have had minimal impact on the ongoing construction."

Yeah, you hope. [5]The Guardian probed a little further, drawing on a pool of sources to be told: "There's a little hole in the garden where one lives. We've seen her all around the building – one second she's on the fifth floor, the next she's on the garden floor. No one has been able to catch her." The critters are also said to be leaving housewarming gifts of excreta across the office complex.

[6]Fake IT support calls hit 20 orgs, end in stolen Salesforce data and extortion, Google warns

[7]Cops want Apple, Google to kill stolen phones remotely – so why won't they?

[8]Google quietly pushes emergency fix for Chrome 0-day as exploit runs wild

[9]Fantastic Mr Fox? Not when he sh*ts on your lawn, kids' trampoline and your soul

Pest control experts suggest the new kings of King's Cross could be living off rats. "We don't live more than three meters away from the nearest rat," Mosh Latifi, co-director of EcoCare, helpfully reminds us.

Another proposes that leaking pipes and handouts from businesses could be keeping the skulk in fighting form. "London is a big playground for foxes – they will go absolutely anywhere," they said, though The Register wonders whether the furry squatters have easy access to the ground floor by this point.

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With the lifespan of a red fox about three to four years, and the garden designed to attract birds, bees, bats, and butterflies, our intruders could have become marooned in a foxy paradise – safe, for now, from crossing paths with humans (though that's rarely a problem for the rest of London's fox populations).

Inbreeding over the years could have left Google with a new species of fox that wears hoodies made from sustainably sourced recycled cloud compute, has a penchant for oat milk matcha lattes, thinks React is too low-level, and only writes front end in Flutter "for portability." ®

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[2] https://www.londoncentric.media/p/why-lime-bikes-beep

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aEhWlF889TeecXgYWLPVjQAAA0k&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

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[5] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/09/google-foxes-roof-london-kings-cross-office

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/04/fake_it_support_calls_hit/

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/04/apple_google_stolen_phones/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/03/google_chrome_zero_day_emergency_fix/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2019/07/26/fantastic_mr_fox_not_when_it_on_your_lawn_kids_trampolene_and_your_soul/

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[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/