The UK’s largest property market website, Rightmove, has announced that it is migrating a number of its systems to Google Cloud.

The move will see Rightmove’s more than 1,000 containers being managed by Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), as well as the creation of a more centralised alternative to its BigQuery data warehouse.

Rightmove’s head of technology operations Andrew Tate said that one of the main reasons why the property website selected Google Cloud as a partner was because of the tech giant’s commitment to run solely on carbon-free energy by 2030.

The goal, which was first announced by CEO Sundar Pichai in September 2020, aligns with Rightmove’s “own commitments to reduce (…) carbon emissions, and will ensure that our platform is consuming the minimum amount of power that is needed to support the maximum number of users each minute of the day”, said Tate.

Google Cloud will also assist Rightmove in simplifying its technology platform, while also “building and delivering new products even more quickly”, which was described as a “key focus area” by Tate.

“We are continuously striving to provide a better experience for consumers on the Rightmove website and better products for our customers. We release over 2,000 updates a year to our applications, so a key focus area for us is reducing time to production and, in turn, time to market,” he added.

By using GKE, Rightmove will be able to streamline the delivery of new services, automate upgrades, as well as scale in line with traffic peaks – which, in the UK, is at 8:48 pm on Wednesdays. 

The pandemic has had a significant impact on the UK’s property market, with many city-dwellers choosing to relocate to more rural areas of the country as offices closed and remote working became the norm. This had resulted in an uptick of traffic to property websites, with Rightmove alone recording more than 100 of its busiest ever days for visits in the last 12 months.

Commenting on the news, Google Cloud UKI director Adrian Poole described Rightmove as “no stranger to innovation” that “has already developed a smart platform that is the go-to for property”. 

“Having recognised the need to take its platform to the next level to stay agile and continue innovating, it is now going to be able to iterate and accelerate time to production. We’re delighted to support Rightmove in their mission to make home moving easier,” he added.