As the refurbishment of our new premises at the former Natwest bank nears completion, founding Partner of Hughes Solicitors Rod Hughes reflects on this significant point in the firm’s business.
One Bright Day
It was a lovely evening in the summer of 2017. We had closed the office doors that Friday and were enjoying a cool glass of something (I forget what!). One of my partners volunteered what we all knew: we had run out of space in our existing offices and something needed to be done!
Fate took a hand the following week with the announcement that NatWest’s branch in Heathfield was to close. It seemed like destiny!
Six months later we had acquired the bank and set out on our adventure to convert it into offices suitable for our use for the next decade and more. Time was taken to see that the building once converted would fit our needs and (just as importantly) the needs of our clients past, present and future.
For the first time we have a range of fully accessible meeting rooms at ground floor level, a boardroom suitable for training and for larger meetings, adequate car parking for visiting clients and contacts and decent offices for all our staff including future lawyers. We hope we have preserved the essential character of the bank building, dating back as it does to the mid-1920s and being one of the more recognisable buildings in the town.
Along the way we have met with enormous goodwill and enthusiasm for our project and plans from everyone in Heathfield and have been extraordinarily lucky in our contractor. The project was complex and as it nears completion we recognise how fortunate we were to be in such good hands.
One bright day, very soon, we will be in the building and welcoming our staff, our clients and our friends to celebrate the next 10 years in the life of the firm.