The organisation has acquired additional space at 225 Bristol Road to enable the relocation of its staff to one central site in Birmingham. Property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield has worked with bira over the last 12 months to design and project manage the office refurbishment.

The refurbishment of the property includes, state of the art audio visual equipment in the new Board Rooms, as well as break out areas for creative thinking and idea development. The character of the Georgian building has been retained and restored, whilst a newer building at 225a has been created as a modern hub for the Membership, Marketing, Oxford Summer School and HR teams to be based.

Alan Hawkins, bira’s CEO said: “Anyone who may have visited our offices in the past, whether in Banbury or at 225 Bristol Road will know that they were in need of modernisation. The dark corridors have been brightened and we are very grateful to Dulux who sponsored our new paint. Rooms have been opened up to create a modern and more social working environment, reflecting our association as a whole, which will only benefit our members with the various departments all working more closely together.

“By the Association now all being in one place we are better able to meet our members’ needs. With members at the heart of all the refurbishment work, we wanted to create a space that is open, light and inviting and one where retailers can come and meet with the team working for them. We are all really happy with the outcome and invite members to come and visit, to use our meeting rooms and to attend our meetings and training sessions here to make use of the new space we have created ultimately for them.”