AHDB to save £500,000/year in move to smaller headquarters

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) will be leaving its Stoneleigh Park offices in April and relocating to a much smaller premises on the Middlemarch Business Park near Coventry Airport.

At 16,000sq feet, the new offices will be about half the size of its existing headquarters, and will save the levy-organisation an estimated £500,000 from its annual budget.

The move follows the 2021 votes by the horticulture and potato sectors to abandon the AHDB, leading to a much slimmed-down organisation.

See also: AHDB sector reports set out five-year spending priorities

CEO Tim Rycroft said: “This move to new, fit-for-purpose headquarters demonstrates our commitment to reducing central costs and building a leaner AHDB.

“The money we have saved will be reinvested in our core activities… offering better value for money to levy-payers in serving their needs.”

Staff will begin moving to the new premises, which is just six miles from the organisation’s current base, in early April, with AHDB’s departure from Stoneleigh Park completed by the end of that month.

Meanwhile, an international technology company has taken over the existing lease at Stoneleigh and is already in the process of moving in.