XLN doubles Sheffield office space

A company listed as the fastest growing telecoms business in the UK has already doubled its Sheffield office space – just 10 months after moving in.

XLN, the UK’s leading essential services provider to small business, took 14,000 sq ft on a 10 year lease at One North Bank in September last year and has now grown into an additional 14,000 sq ft to occupy two floors of the state of the art, riverside building on Blonk Street.

The company, which supplies services such as phones, internet and energy to small businesses, has seen remarkable growth over the last year and made number 85 on the 2015 Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 which ranks Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing profits, based on performance over the past three years.

Peter Whiteley, partner at Knight Frank, which is acting for One North Bank landlord Commercial Estates Group, said: “This past year has been an exciting one for XLN, with huge expansion to Sheffield.

“Sheffield was chosen by the XLN founder Christian Nellemann as the location for its expansion from London ahead of other northern cities. Its transport links, world-class universities and excellent companies were behind the decision.”

“What is appealing about North Bank is its Grade A office space in close proximity to the city centre, offering the best accommodation, but avoiding the headline rents evidenced in other key cities.”

XLN founder and group CEO Christian Nellemann said: “Sheffield was the perfect choice for XLN and so was One North Bank. It’s a grade A building and we are investing huge sums in employee wellbeing. It isn’t easy starting from scratch in a new city but we now employ over 160 amazing people and we are looking to double that over the next year. We are starting to attract high calibre candidates from other companies that want to be part of our exciting journey.”

Jonathan Baucher, partner at Cushman Wakefield, acting for XLN, said: “Having conducted an extensive search of both the Nottingham and Sheffield markets, XLN identified One North Bank as its preferred destination for new premises. The building has been extensively refurbished and provides a high internal specification floorplate with the ability to further expand, which was most attractive to the business.”

Last year saw a management buy-out in the last quarter yield ECI Partners a 3x return on its investment in XLN, as well as the company move to Millbank Tower for its HQ in London and the £40m investment in employment in the Sheffield office.

More than 160 staff work at XLN in roles including customer service, account management, technical support, telesales, HR, finance and technical development.

Remaining space at the 62,000 sq ft building, which is adjacent to the River Don and also home to BDP Architects and First For Health/Instant Offices, totals just 10,000 sq ft on the ground floor with suites from 2,000 sq ft.