The secret reason behind Microsoft's much delayed Project George revealed

Microsoft watchers are used to waiting for the company to deliver on their big projects, and at 5 years delayed Project George would not even be the one that has fallen most behind, but on this occasion, some research has revealed that we can’t blame the developers.

Project George is Microsoft’s plan for a European flagship store in London (in fact UK, since there is no other) and has been in the works since 2012, with a Store planned to have opened in Covent Gardens in March 2013.

Those plans eventually fell through, but in 2017 Microsoft signed on a property in Oxford Street, with the expectation that the Store would open in 2018. Now, unfortunately, according to London MVP Michael Gillett, we may be in for a longer wait.

The problem, according to submissions by Microsoft to Westminster Council, is floor plates, which were thinner than anticipated.

A recent filling notes:

Following strip out of the building, site investigations revealed that the structure of the floorplates (built in concrete and clay pots) was thinner than previous site investigations had anticipated. The structure was in poor condition and found to be incapable of sustaining the loads required for the construction sequence.

Microsoft had planned extensive work including:

• Introduce a new, accessible entrance to the Store at the side of the building
• Add a new feature staircase in the centre of the building going from the ground floor all the way up to the 2nd floor
• Removal of some structural columns and replace the all floors

Hopefully, Microsoft will be able to repair the structure, rather than starting over, which has been the death of many a Microsoft project in the past.

Are any of our European readers waiting for this store? Let us know below.