Acting on behalf of software development company Semmle, commercial property agents, VSL & Partners has acquired additional City Centre office accommodation at Blue Boar Court, Oxford.
VSL & Partners originally acquired space for Semmle at Blue Boar Court in 2012 when the company took the lease of the third and fourth floors comprising 3,250 sq ft.
Semmle has now taken a further 5,450 sq ft of offices on the first and second floors, more than doubling its space in the building to facilitate ongoing expansion. VSL agreed a 10-year lease with a 5-year break at a rental of approximately £21 per sq ft.
Founded by Oege de Moor, a professor of computer science at Oxford University, Semmle provides a business analytics platform to manage the software development process. The team of engineers works with a range of large enterprises in industries as varied as space exploration and financial services. Blue Boar Court is Semmle’s technical operations headquarters. Its sales and marketing operations are based in Silicon Valley and New York City.
Oege de Moor explains: “Taking additional space at Blue Boar Court allows us to accelerate further growth and product development under one roof.“
Following investment in the company, led by Accel Partners in September, Semmle is undergoing significant expansion in the UK, Europe and the US. The company views high quality office space in central Oxford, and the provision of an attractive work environment, as a factor in the recruitment and retention the highest calibre of staff. Taking more space within the building they already occupy has allowed Semmle to prepare for an increase in their UK staff numbers over the next 12 months with the minimum of disruption to business operations. This is vital as Semmle provide mission-critical support to a portfolio of multi-national clients.
Richard Venables, director at VSL & Partners says: “With such a limited supply of prime city Ccentre office accommodation available, we were delighted to be able to provide Semmle with a lease on additional space within their existing building.”
“Blue Boar Court provides some of the best office accommodation Oxford City Centre has to offer. It is a late Victorian building and formerly the Oxford University gymnasium, which was converted into offices in 1989 then occupied by Hollywell Press. We managed to secure a deal in a competitive market in order to facilitate Semmle’s expansion plans and to retain their city centre headquarters accommodation.”
Paul Chaston of Paul Chaston Commercial Property acted for the landlords of Blue Boar Court.
