Following the announced closure of the joint London headquarters of ABDO, the Federation of Manufacturing Opticians and the Federation of Ophthalmic and Dispensing Opticians, the ABDO board has agreed that for the foreseeable future the Association will no longer maintain an office in London.
The majority of headquarter functions will transfer to the ABDO National Resource Centre (NRC) in Birmingham, with the remaining activities undertaken at Godmersham Park in Kent – the home of ABDO College.
Easily accessible from all over the UK, with ample free car parking, the NRC will continue to enable ABDO members to attend meetings and events. The NRC will also become home to the ABDO board.
The ABDO board will decide how to reinvest the proceeds of the sale of ABDO’s London base in due course, but the intention will be to provide some extra revenue for the Association at this very difficult time, the Association stated.
ABDO general secretary, Tony Garrett, said: “In many ways, this is a very sad move. Having a combined headquarters has worked very well for all three organisations over the years. I was involved with the acquisition and refurbishment of the building almost 20 years ago and it has proved a successful joint venture.
“However, times change and we have seen with the advent of Covid-19 that having a London office with all the associated costs is no longer necessary. With the NRC and Godmersham, we have all the resources we need to fully support all of our members.”