RCVS moving to new £20.5m London HQ

RCVS moving to new £20.5m London HQ

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is preparing to move to a new headquarters in central London after its council purchased a striking former Victorian warehouse in Clerkenwel for £20.5million.

Having sold Belgravia House – its Westminster offices since 1995 – to a private investor in March 2021 for £14.5m, the council agreed the purchase of the 1-2 Hardwick Street, with additional costs funded from College reserves built up over a number of years for just such an eventuality.

The new building – now converted into open-plan office space spread across six floors – will ultimately provide the College with significantly more room and facilities to operate efficiently, much greater flexibility to accommodate traditional and new working practices.

Not only are the new premises large enough not only to accommodate a larger staff and more College meetings and member/associate events, but it will also cater allow for  greater social distancing and hybrid working should  they be required again in the future., with unwanted space rented out to create an income for the College.

In the interim, RCVS staff will continue to work either remotely, or in temporary office space leased from the flexible workplace provider, WeWork, at its Chancery Lane site.

RCVS chief executive Lizzie Lockett said: “Like any property purchase, it has been an extremely long and difficult journey to get to this point, with many challenges to navigate along the way, but I am delighted that we are finally able to announce our new home.

“Whilst we will have to wait a while longer before we can enjoy everything 1-2 Hardwick Street has to offer, we are very much looking forward to welcoming members of the professions to visit our new offices, and being able to host a variety of meetings and new events there for them.

“None of this would have been possible without a tremendous amount of hard work and perseverance by our Estate Strategy Group, chaired by former RCVS President Dr Barry Johnson MRCVS and, in particular, our Director of Operations, Corrie McCann. I would like to thank everyone who has supported us to this point.”