A Rocha UK on the move
A Rocha UK’s ‘HQ’ is currently located at 18-19 Avenue Road, Southall, west London. Comprised of two houses joined together it is affectionately known to staff and volunteers as ‘Avenue Road’. Purchased 17 years ago with the help of loans and gifts from supporters, the building has had a unique role in our work.
Avenue Road serves both as a residence for staff and interns working on local conservation projects in Southall, such as Minet Country Park and Wolf Fields Nature Reserve, and as an office for non-residential staff. Local and ‘national’ volunteers also visit frequently and join staff for our weekly communal meal and prayer time together. Over the years it has been a precious community to dozens who have lived, worked and visited there.
However, two factors are now leading A Rocha UK to seek a new location for a national office. First with the growth of our work over the last few years and development of new programmes with national reach, such as Eco Church and Partners in Action, we urgently need more office space. We are primarily looking for a more conventional office set-up with better access to central London (without paying central London office prices!) Secondly, the remaining outstanding loans on the building are due to be repaid in 2022.
The Trustees have therefore decided to put Avenue Road on the market. The sale will enable us to repay all outstanding loans from the proceeds, and to move to rental office space where we can design the interior to meet our expected needs for the next 5-10 years. This includes more space for creative working and convening people, to facilitate our mission of mobilising Christians and churches to care for the natural environment. We will be looking for a premises which is as environmentally sustainable as we can find, within our budget. Our vision is to create a new style of community – a non-residential Christian environmental hub for staff, volunteers, supporters and allies, which also includes our national office.
Critically, A Rocha UK will continue to have a presence in Southall, managing Wolf Fields and developing more conservation work in the area in collaboration with local churches. Indeed, the plan is that by working even more closely with churches in the area, we can together demonstrate a new model for caring for the environment in a whole district, not just stewarding one piece of land within it. We are delighted and grateful that a local church, St John’s Southall, has already offered quality accommodation to our Wolf Fields Reserve Manager, Kailean Khongsai and wife Kim, and their young family.
Please pray for doors to open, for wisdom for the Trustees and senior staff team as they seek the right premises to move to, and for the Khongsais as they prepare to move to a new home locally after ten years in Avenue Road.
If you have any questions or observations at this stage, please email Kemi at kemi.odukoya@arocha.org.
Thank you so much with this update which I will now share with the leadership at St. Stephen’s. Our thoughts and prayers will be with you as you search for the right premises at a price that can be afforded.
Love too to Kailean, Kim and the girls as they prepare to move to St. John’s.
Dear ARUK,
I’ve read the report with huge interest, and simply want to add my enthusiastic support for the plans. Avenue Road has more than once given me accommodation, most recently in December, so that I could go to Oxford to attend the service for Miranda Harris. I think of the place with affection and gratitude, and I pray that a new place will be found that will allow ARUK to continue welcoming and teaching interns from many places.
Ruth Colman . . . A Rocha Australia
Please think about coming to the East Midlands! Market Harborough is a thriving market town half way between Northampton and Leicester and with good access to motorway connections and some beautiful countryside. Also 1 hour on the train from St Pancras!
Great idea Lin – an opportunity to leave London and become a more inclusive organisation.
I second the thought of leaving London itself and moving out to a more reasonably priced part of the country. The regions also have good transport links and might be better served by having A Rocha UK nearby.
Thank you for keeping us informed. There are inevitable concerns about property sales at this time and I pray that the current situation does not complicate your plans
Or Sheffield, two hours to London St Pancras, one hour 30 to London Kings Cross from Derbyshire. Sheffield is marketed as the “Green City” with good cause. It borders the Peak District and North East Derbyshire in the South and even where I live in the former industrial area in the North of the City, the outdoor space is amazing. I spent my daily hourly run this morning in tears of gratitude to God for allowing me to live in such an amazing place. At the end of my road in a non-descript suburb is Wincobank Hill Fort -an ancient fortification thought to be the division of Mercia and Northumbria, it’s a beautiful space with stunning views over the city and right into the Peak District ten miles away. Then I ran into the woods that adjoin it (bear in mind that all this is in the middle of a suburb) and was treated to a loud cacophony of birdsong and I even saw a bright blue bird’s egg on the ground. On a more practical note, rents are much much cheaper and the M1 wends it’s way around South Yorkshire, with M18 and the M62 close by. Also, property prices, particularly in the northern part of the city where we live are amazing value for money. Six years ago we bought a three-bedroom semi, with a garden front and back, a drive and a garage for £100,00 and the prices have remained about the same since.
I’m a Catholic, worshipping at the Cathedral Church of St Maries, but there are loads of churches, some, particularly I think in the more prosperous south of the city who do amazing eco-friendly things. Look at St Thomas’ Crookes or St Mark’s Broomhill for inspiration. Even we RCs do our bit!!! For example, St Francis of Assisi in Crosspool and St William of York in Ecclesall have lots of middle class motivated, fairly well off people who would really benefit from A Rocha.
Blessings and stay and keep safe.
I understand there will be several factors to consider but I’m glad that work will continue in Southall band also pleased that the office may be moved to somewhere more accessible for people coming from other parts of the UK. Hint: Office prices are much lower outside of London!
I hope Emma Green’s suggestion is taken seriously, because I would endorse her points about Green Sheffield. Our daughter and family live at Meersbrook, and the National CPRE volunteer co-ordinator lives nearby. I have a longstanding association with JRI and CRES, which A Rocha supports. In fact A Rocha supplied our course examiner in the 1980’s! Sheffield is also a good place for people working together.
In the light of the current Corona virus crisis, I suggest that the sale of Avenue Road be put on hold until 2021(well beyond the hoped for end of the pandemic) as there will be a great deal of empty offices from companies which have not survived and long term leases for office space are likely to be much less expensive than they were only a couple of months ago. I am not advocating any particular location but I am sure it should be in some town outside the metropolis but well connected by transport to Central London.
Thank you so much for this update and I can understand the need for you to have space to create a more accessible and appropriate space for your needs. I do echo Emma Green’s thoughts. The Sheffied area is just as accessible as London although probably I acknowledge not for the same people. Also to move there would take the emphasis off London and make much more ecological sense to widen the relevance of the whole of the country. It would of course be cheaper ! It would also be so encouraging to the churches of the north and the midlands added to which the countryside is inspirational round there.
I am so so pleased the work in Southall is going to continue. I have just visited Wolf Fields and was so impressed with all that has been done and is being done. Praise the Lord for St John’s and their support and provision of housing for Kailean and Kim.
God bless you all
I agree with all those who have suggested moving out of London. It really doesn’t make much sense for an environmental company/charity to work out of a heavy urban environment. What message is that sending to your supporters?
This is exciting news May Our Lord bless and lead you as you think ahead Perhaps the current Shut Down will give time to firm up your plans Thank you for all your work and support for us all
Thanks for sharing the plans and ideas. Christian community and practical conservation are among the key differences A Rocha has to any other conservation organisation I know. It is slow work. It develops in relationships in community. It gains credibiltiy through actual conservation and research work on the ground. I know A Rocha encourages many small communities (like mine), but worry that premises that are primarily a national office won’t cut it, it could become like any other campaigning conservation movement. You have been incarnate in Southall, that wonderful ethos could be easily lost.
in a further comment on my post of March 30th, it is interesting to recall that most of the major environmental charities are based outside London- the National Trust (Swindon), The Woodland Trust (Grantham) , The Wildlife Trusts (Newark) and the RSPB (Sandy). If its satisfactory for such bodies, it should seem to be an opportunity for A Rocha. In a further thought on where we should lease office space, why not see what other organisations in the charity sector might have to offer in the way of empty office space they would be glad to fill? Or try the Diocesan offices of the C of E such as StAlbans or Guildford, for example. I would much rather that we should be paying rent or lease money to some organisation in the “Voluntary” sector rather than a commercial landlord.
Thank you to everyone that has commented on A Rocha UK’s property move update.
What we are hearing loud and clear is that many of our supporters would like to see us move out of London, and become less London-centric. We currently work with Partners all over the UK, including Northern Ireland, and, wherever we move to, we aim to be more intentional about consolidating regional support. We would like to clarify what A Rocha UK’s being in London has meant for the last 17 years. We are concerned that ‘London’ conjures up an image of suits and corporate offices, which has not been in our DNA at all. Our current office is located in a very deprived area in West London, where the vast majority of local residents are not Christians. We’ve been able to engage many people from a diverse range of backgrounds, demonstrating the love of Christ, through our commitment to caring for creation.
The ongoing crisis with COVID-19 has meant that we are currently unsure of what our next move will be, but we want to assure our supporters that we will be prayerfully considering a wide variety of options as they present themselves. Thank you for praying with us on this important matter.
Jennifer Plummer, A Rocha UK Communications Officer
My love of nature began as a small child in rural Sussex, later moving with my family to the south coast. Running free and becoming almost feral in woods, fields, river banks and sea shores as a school girl with brothers and friends, taught me more than anything my London cousin ever knew about wild flowers, birds, bees and butterflies.
I’ve lived now in West London for more than 50 years. That wonder of God’s creation is still with me and luckily has been passed down to my daughters, who share the passion. Regular holidays with grandparents close to open countryside helped!
We cannot ignore the fact that the vast majority of our population now live in urban situations, deprived of the joys of experiencing what I was so lucky to have.
The restoration of derelict land in our towns and cities is SO important in helping children of all ages to see and get hands dirty. Seeing how the earth responds with influxes of wild life SO affirming
London is much more than the South Bank, Westminster and the City!. A vast area made up of hundreds of former villages – each with it’s own character and diverse mixture of ethnicity, religion, wealth and poverty. A microcosm of the world itself in fact.
Wherever A Rocha finally finds it’s next home, I would hope it will have these qualities, while at the same time doing what I believe it always has been – embracing all, where ever they have come from or going to.