One of Wales’ largest law firms has completed the purchase of its new head office in Cardiff city centre in response to the firm’s impressive growth over the last five years and to accommodate its expansion plans. Savills Cardiff acted for former owners, Carlton (North Wales) Limited, on the sale of Fitzalan House.
Multi-award-winning Howells Solicitors will be moving just a short distance from their current head office in Hallinans House on Newport Road where they have been based for over 20 years to the five storey Fitzalan House on Fitzalan Road. The building provides 22,000 sq ft (2,044 sq m) of office space and will house all of the firm’s Cardiff staff with a mix of open plan and private meeting rooms.
Fitzalan House was purchased by the firm in a deal worth £2,650m. Rhidian Hobbs, Director and Head of Commercial Property at Howells Solicitors completed the acquisition on behalf of the firm with assistance from HSBC Bank Plc and the Development Bank of Wales.
The law firm is expecting to move into their new offices in July which will house all of its Cardiff staff that provide specialist legal advice in the areas of residential conveyancing, commercial property, wills trusts and probate, family, employment, personal injury and clinical negligence, civil litigation. The new offices will allow the firm to expand its business client services into commercial litigation as well as corporate matters.
Mark Hobbs, Managing Director of Howells Solicitors said: “The purchase of a new larger head office for the firm is due to the continuing growth of the firm and to adapt to modern working practices. Fitzalan House will allow us to offer a more agile working environment with a variety of workspaces and breakout areas for staff to interact and allows us to provide a first-class visitor experience for our clients. It was an important decision for Howells to remain in the City Centre and we feel that Fitzalan House is in a prime office location given its proximity to Queen Street Station, Cardiff’s main shopping centre, car parking all of which brings a lot of advantages to our staff and clients”
Gary Carver, director at Savills in Cardiff, adds: “We are delighted to have sold Fitzalan House on behalf of our client. The property benefits from a prominent position on Fitzalan Place, adjacent to Legal and General’s office, Knox Court, and opposite Trafalgar House, which was recently purchased by Biz Space for a new serviced offices.”
Funding was met by HSBC and Development Bank of Wales. Ruby Harcombe from the Development Bank of Wales said: “Howells have experienced impressive growth over the last few years and their move to a new, larger head office will allow them to keep expanding as a company. We’re pleased we’ve been able to support them with a loan from the Wales Business Fund and look forward to their continued success.”