Future of the RCOT HQ building in London

Since the pandemic and the introduction of flexible working, the RCOT HQ building has been significantly underused. It’s important that we make the most of all our investments, including our building, so that they help us to develop and enhance the services and benefits we offer to our members.

We’ve been talking to Council about this since January 2022. They agreed we should look at options to make sure the building is used more effectively, while reflecting our commitment to offering flexible working to staff. Those options included renting some floors on a commercial basis to tenants, as well as potentially selling the building. Council agreed that we should progress with the option to rent out some space commercially.

Since January, we've undertaken extensive planning and financial modelling and presented a proposal to Council at their meeting on 7 September 2022. Council agreed that we should refurbish four floors (1–4) so that we can offer them to commercial tenants and remodel the ground floor to accommodate flexible working for RCOT staff.

This approach has significant benefits. As well as providing a great, flexible working space for RCOT, it will also provide a significant income stream. By growing our commercial revenue through rental income, we can develop and enhance the services and benefits we offer to our members. By renting office space, we intend to then reduce membership fee increases in the future, as we’re very mindful of the financial pressures that our members are facing.

We’re closing the building from 3 October 2022 to early 2023 while the building work is underway. This approach means that the work will be completed quicker. We will be working from home during this time and will continue to deliver the usual member services.

The building will be renamed Phoenix House, which Council unanimously agreed – reflecting both the historic association with occupational therapy and the emergence of the Borough area in the 1960s from the damage incurred during the Blitz.

FAQs

Will members have access to the new building?

The new office space will include a shared collaboration area, which members will be welcome to use when they are nearby, for a coffee, or meeting with a colleague.

We’re committed to supporting members to carry out Specialist Sections/regions business efficiently. Our volunteers’ experience of virtual committee meetings has largely been successful and we're encouraging them to continue having virtual meetings – they are more accessible, flexible, efficient and environmentally sustainable.

While there won’t be big meeting rooms available in the new space, we'll continue to support Specialist Sections and regions by providing two meeting rooms a year in 2022/23 when face to face meetings are preferred. These can be in a suitable venue close to our offices or further afield.

How much income is this likely to bring in?

We expect an annual net income of over £800k through renting our office space. Our initial investment will be £2.1 million, which we expect to be paid back in the third or fourth year of operation.

What considerations are being made for sustainability within the design of the new building?

We want the refurbishment work and the new RCOT headquarters it delivers, to have minimal environmental impact. This will also be a key consideration for our potential tenants – who will be reporting their own environmental impact and will want to rent an energy-efficient space.

Our aim is to improve the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of the building from ‘D’ to ‘B’. An A-rating is extremely difficult to achieve in a 1960s building.

Have you considered accessibility in the new building design?

Accessibility consideration is a priority in how we are designing the RCOT staff area on the ground floor. We’ve been working with a surveyor who is an expert and passionate about accessibility as well as one of our qualified occupational therapists on who is an expert in housing, adaptations and social care. We’ve also secured input from the Centre for Accessible Environments (CAE).

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