Church moving headquarters to city centre site

THE Church in Wales has confirmed that it will be moving its headquarters to one of the most expensive office developments in Cardiff.

After nearly a century in leafy Cathedral Road, the church’s Representative Body is in negotiations to rent a floor of an office block in Callaghan Square, not far from the southern entrance to Cardiff Central station.

The decision supersedes an earlier one to demolish its existing headquarters and erect a new building in Cathedral Road.

One churchgoer said: “This comes at a time of increasing church closures due to lack of funding for maintenance.

“It seems that the church is unable to find money to support its loyal and committed members but is able to find money to rent luxury office accommodation in the centre of Cardiff that will do absolutely nothing to stop churches closing left, right and centre and to support congregations like mine who have repeatedly asked for funding help but have been refused every time.

“This is an awful use of money that congregations have worked so hard to get.”

A spokeswoman for the Church in Wales responded: “For almost 100 years the Representative Body of the church in Wales has been based in converted residential properties on Cathedral Road.

“For some years, it has been apparent that the buildings are not fit for purpose either as office accommodation for the staff who work there or as a meeting venue to which people travel from all over Wales.”

The spokeswoman said many options had been explored by the church’s trustees with the help of skilled professional advisers.

Options explored included refurbishing the existing buildings, building a new office on the Cathedral Road site and relocating.

After extensive discussion, the trustees have decided that the most expedient solution is to move to rented premises in Cardiff city centre and discussions with a landlord are in progress.

The church’s provincial secretary Simon Lloyd said: “A location in the centre of Cardiff close to transport hubs will encourage greater use of public transport by both staff and those coming to the office for meetings.

“Our new office will provide good, accessible meeting space and a modern working environment for staff. We look forward to moving and having a visible presence at the heart of our vibrant capital city.

“The Representative Body is responsible for looking after the assets of the church to ensure that resources are available for the benefit of the whole church.

“The income from the investments it holds is used to provide grants to support the work of the church in each diocese – £6.3m this year – and to pay towards clergy pensions. It meets nearly a third of the total expenditure of the church.”

Mr Lloyd said that on top of this, over the past three years the church had made an extra £3m available – its Transformation Fund – to support projects across the church linked to renewal and growth.”

The Church in Wales said it was unable to comment on the cost of the new accommodation as negotiations are still under way.

But a property expert said the rental would be more than £20 per square foot per year.

The Representative Body currently employs 55 staff to provide professional support for parishes, the bishops and St Padarn’s Institute in the areas of property, legal, finance, human resources, information technology, safeguarding and secretarial.

Earlier this year the Church in Wales submitted plans to demolish the former red-brick vicarage it occupies in Cathedral Road and replace it by a new office block.

The proposal was opposed by Cardiff Civic Society, which said its demolition would set a dangerous precedent in the conservation area.

The plan has now been shelved.