A vital charitable centre that supports people with long-term health conditions is seeking a new home to better support its clients and fulfil its growth plans.

Caroline Aird, chief executive at South West MS Therapy Centre, said while there was “no imminent danger” to the organisation, it had been seeking more modern premises for around three years without success.

The building the charity occupies now is a listed building, which brings logistical challenges and would make alterations problematic.

Ms Aird said while she had seen some other buildings that could possibly work, they all fell down on the amount of car parking space the organisation needs.

That aspect is extremely important because many users have mobility issues, travel from as far afield as Somerset or Dorset, and often have adapted vehicles that require adequate space.

Finding a new home that is predominantly at ground-floor level is also important, Ms Aird said.

“Having a more modern space with parking is on our wish list,” she added.

“Where we are now is beautiful, but in terms of what it offers inside it is limited and expensive.”

Ms Aird said the organisation had been in its current location for more than 25 years, but had sold the building and was now in its second year of renting it.

That move was aimed at giving it more flexibility to move to a new base, but nothing suitable has yet been found.

The chief executive said heating the property had become increasingly expensive, and while it benefitted from an accessible location near the M5, the space created daily logistical challenges and limited growth.

“The limitations are the number of rooms on the ground floor,” she said.

“There is one large room, and if we use that for a gym, then we can’t use it for pilates and yoga at the same time, so we are often moving equipment around.”

Ms Aird said the charity ran sessions such as courses on fatigue management for people living with MS or other conditions where fatigue is a feature.

“We know there is a growing need as people are living longer with long-term conditions,” she said.

Ms Aird said the charity relied largely on fundraising, donations, grants and corporate donations — which recently included cleaning product firm Smol — but tried to secure income in other ways too.

“We do our best to monetise the building we are renting now, but we are not in the room-hiring business, we’re focused on providing people with MS [and other conditions] oxygen therapy,” she said.

“We are the only provider in Devon who offers this at a charitable rate, and some people come from as far away as Chard.”

Ms Aird said some people who came for the oxygen therapy had illnesses other than MS, including cancer and neurophysiological conditions such as Parkinson’s.

Ms Aird noted it was considered a complementary therapy but some members had been “coming for years and benefitting from it”.

The organisation is currently on the former Digby hospital site in Exeter, close to the city’s Ikea store and the Tesco store on Russell Way.