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Global growth sees Newcastle-headquartered Turnitin procure new office space

Education technology company Turnitin UK has acquired nearly 20,000 sq ft of office accommodation at Wellbar Central, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a move set to facilitate the company’s global expansion.

Now occupying part of the fourth floor and all of the sixth floor, of the ten-storey office property close to St James’ Park, Turnitin is growing as a leader in originality checking and online grading.

The property will be used as the firm’s UK headquarters, having outgrown their previous council-run incubator space at Charlotte Square.

Turnitin UK, formerly known as nLearning, span out of Northumbria University in 2007 with eight staff led by Will Murray, now Chief Product Officer for Turnitin.

Will Murray said: “Turnitin is used in 15,000 institutions and 140 countries. Nearly 98% of universities in the UK use the service, including those based in the North East. Yet, many don’t know that our UK office is based right here in Newcastle.

“We know that the North East has a flourishing software engineering community and is the site of a growing tech industry. We’re excited to continue to be a part of that - providing local jobs and nurturing local talent.”

Employing 43 at the end of 2013, the company has now doubled in size and wishes to build on staff numbers throughout the remainder of 2015.

The UK office move coincides with a period of growth and expansion, which began last year when Turnitin was acquired by Insight Venture Partners for $752m. This enabled the acquisition of a European based competitor and a set of newly established offices in the Netherlands and, most recently, Australia.

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