National Centre Appeal

Our new national centre will allow us to help more families, train more dogs and change more lives. Learn how you can help.

Phase 2

Creation of the Community Heartspace and building and roof refurbishment to improve accessibility and integrate our frontline service team into the building.

This stage will not only allow us to move our frontline services in quickly so that, as a minimum, we can maintain our current service levels, it will also create the new Community Heartspace. This will allow us to offer a new range of services, supporting more people while also creating an area available for wider use of the community.

Moving into the site quickly will also allow the charity to release assets. This will be through both the sale of our existing building, and enabling the charity to move out a second building that we currently rent, allowing a saving of over £70,000 a year.

This stage is where we make the changes to start to bring the centre to life - a centre where we will be able to train more life-saving support dogs, enhance and expand our work to reach and improve the lives of our community, and increase the services we provide.

This stage includes:

The creation of a Community Heartspace and meeting rooms. This will enable expanded opportunities for our charity to engage and support a much wider reach of the community. This will enable interactive sessions with a range of community, health and special educational needs groups.
The replacement of all the building’s roofing. This currently leaks and has some structural weaknesses that need to be replaced before the charity can move in.
Installation of two accessible toilets. These are essential to meet the needs of our service users. Installation of a stair lift, to make the training centre more accessible.
Installation of two portakabins. These will be placed within the warehouse section of the current building and used to house self-contained dog welfare and relaxations pods. This will ensure dog-training in the centre will take place in comfortable, safe and quiet areas where they can relax without being distracted or disturbed by the renovation work that is taking place at the centre.
Installation of more energy-efficient lighting, heating solutions and improved access to all areas on the ground floor.