Aurora Energy Research is to partner with Oxford City Council to lease a new office space in the heart of Oxford.
The partnership will allow Aurora to continue operating its global headquarters out of the city centre, maintaining strong links to the firm’s university roots and making an integral contribution to the local economy.
For the City Council, the letting will provide a significant long-term income stream to help fund key services in an increasingly challenging financial environment for local authorities.
Final terms are agreed and the letting is close to completion. Aurora expects to open its new Oxford office at St Aldate’s Chambers in 2024, after signing a long-term tenancy agreement with the City Council.
Aurora Energy Research
From Aurora’s founding in 2013 to the hosting of its largest annual conference in March 2023 and new partnership with the Council, the city of Oxford is central to the company’s past, present and future.
Over the past decade, Aurora has grown from an idea conceived by a group of University of Oxford researchers, to become one of the leading providers of energy transition software and analytics globally. The firm’s services now cover over 30 countries across five continents, and are delivered by a workforce spanning 14 offices worldwide.
As Aurora has expanded, so has its Oxford headquarters: the company has occupied and outgrown five office spaces in the city since its inception. Its current base at Cambridge Terrace houses over 200 employees.
Thanks to a rapidly increasing headcount, reflecting Aurora’s growing product offering and client base, a new office space is crucial to extending the company’s contributions to the local economy and the global energy transition.
Oxford City Council
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the City Council has been making more use of hybrid working, and most employees now work from home at least part of the week.
Last year, the City Council also reworked space in Oxford Town Hall to create more office space and meeting rooms.
This combination provided the opportunity for the City Council to vacate its former offices in St Aldate’s Chambers.
Reducing the office footprint has saved money on heating and electricity, and the leasing of St Aldate’s Chambers will provide a significant long-term income stream to help key services.
The City Council also has an objective of retaining spinout businesses from Oxford’s two universities within the city, so they can continue to employ Oxford residents and benefit the city’s economy.
St Aldate’s Chambers
Spanning over 38,000 square feet across five floors, St Aldate’s Chambers will allow Aurora to increase its office space in Oxford by more than threefold, supporting the company’s ambitious expansion plans and allowing the city of Oxford to remain at the centre of its global operation.
With its future in the city secure, Aurora will continue to partner with the University of Oxford, such as through funding scholarships at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and inviting students to apply for its two Oxford-based graduate schemes.
A new global headquarters will also support the continued hosting of the annual Aurora Spring Forum in Oxford, attracting the most important and influential figures in the global energy sector to the city.
“Oxford is Aurora’s home. We operate in a competitive global knowledge industry, which plays a vital role in managing climate change. Central Oxford—which has been a mecca for the world’s smartest and most enquiring minds for centuries—is the natural place to locate.”
John Feddersen, Founder and CEO at Aurora Energy Research
“The partnership with Aurora Energy Research is a big win for all involved. Not only does it reduce our energy bills and provide a significant long-term income stream to help fund the City Council’s key services in an increasingly challenging financial environment, but it also enables us to retain a business rooted in the University of Oxford in the city, so it continues to employ local people and benefit our city’s economy.”
Councillor Ed Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance and Asset Management at Oxford City Council
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