The Press

Xero moves staff into purpose-built office

- JULIE ILES

Xero’s Auckland staff will move to new offices in November.

The Kiwi accounting software company has taken a 12-year lease for offices in the Mansons developmen­t in Parnell, on the corner of St Georges Bay and Garfield roads.

The building would provide 66 per cent more space to accommodat­e the company’s growth plans. Xero’s offices will span two floors and nearly 6000 square metres, connected by an internal atrium and staircase, much like Xero’s new Wellington headquarte­rs.

Xero employs more than 360 people in Auckland spread across separate offices within the Textile Centre in Parnell.

The new office will accommodat­e more than 600 staff members in one purpose-built space.

The building has a five Green Star rating, showers and changing rooms to encourage workers to cycle to work, an on-site fitness area and social areas with games tables and espresso machines.

Xero’s New Zealand country manager, Craig Hudson, said the move to bigger office space in Auckland demonstrat­ed the company’s commitment to New Zealand despite its focus on internatio­nal expansion.

‘‘While 80 per cent of our revenue is now outside New Zealand, we are a New Zealand-born company through and through and are proud to have the lion’s share of our product, operationa­l, customer and financial teams here, serving more than 1 million small businesses globally.’’

He said the new Wellington office, as well as a recently opened regional office in Hawke’s Bay, meant the company was positioned to employ more than 1000 people over the next 10 years.

Chief partner officer Anna Curzon said the building would also include a co-working space to foster business innovation.

‘‘Our co-working space, ReWire, will focus on cloud-based business platform innovation by connecting banks, government, accountant­s, large enterprise­s, app partners and small business all with the purpose of collaborat­ing to rewire the small business economy,’’ Curzon said.

The company has more than 100 developers in Auckland, she said. The new office was a ‘‘drawcard for attracting talent’’.

Auckland Tourism, Events & Economic Developmen­t chief executive Nick Hill said: ‘‘The tech sector is a key driver of longterm economic growth. It’s estimated that for every job created in the tech sector, an additional five jobs are created across other sectors.’’

 ??  ?? Xero’s new office will accommodat­e 600 people.
Xero’s new office will accommodat­e 600 people.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from New Zealand