The Royal British Legion has acquired by Lease two floors of Alliance House at the juncture between High Street and Mary Street, close to Cardiff Castle. The ground floor will house one of 16 new ‘Pop In’ advice and information centres that the charity is opening around the country following three years of development and restructuring. It will act as a first port of call for Service personnel, veterans and their families and is due to open in October. The first floor of the building will provide office accommodation and meeting rooms, and a number of volunteers have been recruited to provide support and advice at the Pop In centre. Cooke & Arkwright acted on behalf of the landlord, Alliance House Properties Ltd, and Savills represented the British Legion.
Alex Kalebic of Cooke & Arkwright said, “This requirement was an unusual one in that the British Legion needed a shop front presence but importantly also first floor office accommodation. Whilst we were initially marketing the ground floor only, given that the landlords controlled the whole building, they were able to provide the connectivity required between the ground floor shop and office accommodation on the first floor and hence satisfy the requirement. The location will hopefully work well for the British Legion given its accessible city centre location.”
No other charity has such a presence of this nature on UK’s high streets and the 16 Pop Ins will be supported by a network of hundreds of community outreach hubs. Phil Jones, the Legion’s Manager for Wales said, “We are delighted with our new premises in Cardiff which will make us more accessible to our beneficiaries and ensure that the Armed Forces community can reach help how and when they need it. This is part of a huge change within the organisation and how the charity delivers its frontline support services. It will ensure that the Legion is fit for purpose, meeting our communities changing needs and so that we are easier to find – in person, online or by phone.”
Gary Carver of Savills said, “We had been looking for suitable premises for The British Legion for some time as they had very specific requirements for their new premises which would give them a ground floor presence yet also provide office space. After an extensive search Alliance House provided them with an excellent solution.”
Linda Jones, Director of Alliance House Properties said, “We are delighted to have secured such a high profile tenant for our building. For the first time since we acquired Alliance House the office tower block will be in multiple occupation as The Royal British Legion joins our existing tenant Loosemores Solicitors which occupies the rest of the office accommodation. We wish our new tenant every success in this venture in the heart of Cardiff City Centre.”
The Legion has also set up a comprehensive web site, with live web chat, and a Freephone central contact centre in addition to the Pop Ins and outreach bases.