The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has instructed CBRE Southampton to market the Sir William Hillary building located at the RNLI’s Poole Campus on West Quay Road.

The building is named after the charity’s founder, who established the charity in 1824. The building was closed to staff in 2020 as part of the charity’s programme to streamline resources and become more sustainable.

The circa 44,400 sq ft, five-storey building sits on a c.1.45-acre site and is close to both the town centre and Poole Quay.

Ryan Harris, Director at CBRE Southampton, said: “We are pleased to be working with the RNLI to market this site, which is an opportunity to reimagine part of the gateway to Poole Quay. The site could suit a variety of different uses, subject to planning, and makes it an attractive prospect for investors and developers.”

The sale is part of the RNLI’s wider efforts to modernise and simplify their estate and infrastructure, ensuring they are prepared to meet changing needs in the future.

Brian Dewey, RNLI Programme Manager for Poole Campus, said: “Our use of the Poole Campus has changed in recent years, resulting in several of our buildings becoming obsolete, while still incurring expensive maintenance costs.

“We aim to reduce costs and carbon emissions, adapt to changing work habits and create a well-designed campus that better suits the RNLI’s needs.”

The lifesaving charity’s Poole Campus will still retain the RNLI College, which is used as a hotel for guests and to train their frontline lifesavers, as well as their All-weather lifeboat centre which builds and maintains the RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat fleet, the Sea Survival Centre used for training and the RNLI Support Centre.”

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