Plymouth Law Firm Advises on New Wellbeing Hub for Local Charity
Plymouth headquartered law firm, GA Solicitors, has provided commercial legal advice on a new wellbeing hub that will support a local charity in its bid to create an innovative, multi-use space for child cancer patients and their families.
Hugs Children’s Cancer Charity (formerly Hugs From Henry) has secured a seven-year lease on a 667 sq. ft unit in Eggbuckland, Plymouth. The versatile property will be transformed into a dedicated space for children’s play therapy, counselling, and a new office area for administrative functions, including much needed fundraising efforts.
As the charity celebrates its tenth anniversary, this new hub is a significant step forward in its mission to provide both emotional and practical support to families affected by childhood cancer. With two retail shops and a storage unit already secured, this hub has become the fourth leased property in the charity’s growing portfolio. These leased properties are in addition to an owned freehold property in Cornwall, which provides respite breaks to the brave children and their families.
The new wellbeing hub has received strong support from local businesses and trade professionals who are known to Hugs Children’s Charity founder, Elsbeth Hallam. Volunteers from the BNI Endeavour Chapter: Davenport Construction & Development (Paul Davenport), Complete Maintenance Southwest Ltd (Mark Dawson), Leyden Ltd (Hannah and Matt Massey), Dave’s Waste Away (David Weeks) and DW Signs (Alin Dumitrescu) have generously donated their time and expertise to spruce the venue up in time for its grand opening, scheduled for the next couple of weeks. .
The charity was founded in 2015 by Elsbeth Hallam after the neuroblastoma diagnosis of her son, Henry. The charity later changed its name to Hugs Children’s Cancer Charity following Henry’s much-celebrated remission. Since then, Elsbeth has taken the charity from strength to strength, providing countless families with emotional and practical support as they face the challenges of rare childhood cancers.
Lauren Dixon, the commercial property solicitor at GA Solicitors who advised on the lease, commented: “I was delighted to be able to advise Elsbeth and the team on the lease of this property. It is in the perfect location, with parking right outside and great accessibility. It has also been wonderful to see the show of support for the charity and all those wanting to help and do their bit to make it ready for the children and their families. The support Elsbeth and the Hugs team provide is a vital lifeline for so many families and to see their provision extend to play therapy and counselling in a dedicated space is simply fantastic.”
Elsbeth, founder of Hugs Children’s Cancer Charity, added: “Lauren and the team provided sound advice at all stages of this transaction. We were originally looking at another property in a different location, but Lauren raised a number of red flags, which then led us to keep looking until we found one which suited all of our requirements. We had many things to consider, such as accessibility in case the children receiving treatment need wheelchair access. For this reason, we also needed to ensure that there was plenty of parking and that there were toilet and kitchen facilities at ground level.
“The Eggbuckland property is perfect, and I would like to thank all those who are assisting us to update the property so we can retain our funds for the care of the children and their families. I would also like to thank Lauren for working so hard to complete this deal for us and for keeping the charity’s best interests at the forefront at all times”.
GA Solicitors’ commercial property team is well established in the South West and is recognised in both The Legal 500 and Chambers UK.
ENDS
17/04/25
Note to Editors
GA Solicitors can trace its roots back more than 200 years and has been advising the people and businesses in the South West for its duration. Originally based in Devonport, the firm gets its initials from Thomas Husband Gill, who joined the practice in 1875 and later went into partnership with Albert E. Akaster.
Now one of the region’s leading law firms, the 99-strong team at the Lexcel-accredited LLP, has offices in both Plymouth and Bath. It is ranked in The Legal 500, Chambers UK and Chambers High Net Worth and is structured around eight practice areas, each comprising its own specialist department:
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