The former fish processing plant is so unremarkable that, at first, my taxi driver speeds right past it. He shrugs as we come to a stop in an empty carpark across the street. Along a dreary 5ha stretch of forgotten waterfront land on the outskirts of Toronto sits a boxy blue building, almost invisible among the factories and highway.

The land is neglected now, but that will change if Google has its way. This is the site where the technology company wants to build a city of the future.