Refurbishment Proposal

Architects Dress for the Weather and Fiona Sinclair were appointed in 2021 to prepare a feasibility study and concept to refurbish our amazing building.

Redesign & Upgrade

We are a busy centre! With many hundreds of people using our centre every week, demand for space now outstrips the facilities available and for a long time we have realised the need to redesign and upgrade our building.

In 2021 architects Dress for the Weather and Fiona Sinclair were appointed to propose a RIBS Stage 2 Feasibility report to refurbish the building..

Self-sufficient

The principal aims of the project were to create more efficient, fully accessible, and functional spaces that would allow the centre to be self-sufficient and continue our community activity and outreach. The proposal includes a permanent café space (with full professional catering size kitchen), a wonderful mezzanine level to make the most of the un-used space from our triple height ceilings and reinstating outdoor access from the lounge to the back garden space. Their proposal also includes full disabled access to the whole building, opening up the under-used basement space and adding small community studio rental spaces.

Community Consultations

We also worked closely with ‘Community Enterprise’ who carried out extensive local community consultations to find out what people really want from their community centre in the future and what positive changes could be made. Community Enterprise presented a feasibility study and business plan for the proposed transition.

RIBA Stage 2 Feasibility Report

You can find out more about the proposed refurbishment, view the plans and find out about the results of the community consultation here.