More than £1.6m is being spent on developing Hurlingham and Chelsea School and creating a new community hub for south Fulham.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council approved plans at a cabinet meeting last week to contribute £1.3m towards developing new community facilities at the secondary school, on Peterborough Road.
That money has been promised from the capital receipt the council will receive from the sale of the Sands End Community Centre in Broughton Road, while the rest of the funding - £320,000 - is coming from the school.
The scheme includes a new library for use by both pupils and local residents, and the refurbishment of a formerly unused area of the school, which has been turned into a purpose-built arts and crafts, pottery and textiles suite.
Work on developing the school so that it doubles up as a community hub is already in full flow and has been for the past year. The school will have new changing rooms, a state-of-the-art fitness suite, a dance studio and two gymnasiums.
Head teacher of Hurlingham & Chelsea, Dr Philip Cross, said:
“This project helps to realise our long-standing ambition to become a learning ‘hub’ for the community in south Fulham. We are already judged by Ofsted as an ‘outstanding’ school with excellent academic results.”
The development means that many of the services that either ran, or that will run until May, in the Sands End Community Centre, have a new home at Hurlingham and Chelsea School. One of the conditions the council stipulated last March when it decided to sell the community building was that all services would be re-located elsewhere in the local area.
The pottery classes and table tennis club sessions have already moved into the school, while the library and jewellery facilities will open in May on the school site.
Meanwhile, many of the other services, classes and programmes that were running in the Sands End Community Centre are continuing to take place at different venues. These include St Matthews Church, Sands End Playhouse, the Families Support Localities Service, the Macbeth Centre, and Langford School, which has now federated with Hurlingham and Chelsea school under the leadership of Dr Cross, and a unified management team and governing body.
Dr Cross added:
“By federating with Langford Primary School and developing a strong community focus, we aim to establish Hurlingham & Chelsea as a leader in community education - nationally and internationally.”
Cabinet member for residents’ services, Cllr Greg Smith, said:
“The extra funding that the council is pumping into Hurlingham & Chelsea
will lead to the school becoming even more of a key focal point for
the Sands End community. The thriving new hub of activity will offer
all local residents, whatever their age or background, the perfect
opportunity to access a broad range of first class services and
activities all under one roof. Change is never easy but, once
complete, I am confident that the local community will come to value
this new innovative hub as much as they did the previous one.”
"We are very excited that Hurlingham & Chelsea is becoming even more of a focal point for the area, and is going to be a real hive of activity across the board - for education, youth, leisure and adult learning.
“The development offers local residents the perfect opportunity to get really involved in their community, and to bring people of all ages and backgrounds together while continuing to provide first class services under one roof. We want local people to support the scheme and get behind our vision of a hub developed specifically for the benefit of our residents.”
The school will continue to work with the council, and will look at working with other local organisations and charities, the Government and businesses, to continue to grow and serve the community.
Architects Surface to Air, who won a prestigious award for their work on the refurbishment of a Victorian building in Langford Primary, known as ‘The Courtyard’, created the vision of the new-look community areas in Hurlingham and Chelsea School and are continuing to work with the school to manage the project.
The news follows on from last week’s announcement that the council is paying £44,000 towards refurbishing the Adventure Playground building in Marinefield Road, Sands End, next month. The building will be given a makeover on both the inside and outside, the current toilets will be upgraded and new ones that will be accessible to everyone installed.
Sands End Community Centre is one of eight properties that the council agreed to sell last February (2011) to reduce its historic debt of £133m. The decision was based on the council’s commitment to prioritise front-line services ahead of underused buildings during an age of austerity. The centre has been underused for many years, despite repeated attempts to improve footfall and generate more activity through hiring out the centre.
All the services that are or were based at the community centre have either already been relocated or are set to by the end of May. They are as follows:
her are the following details on existing or former provision at Sands End Community Centre and the new provision and implementation date
Gym
Club Energie Fitness in the Piper Building
Implemented in 2011
Children’s Centre
Ray’s Playhouse
Implemented in 2011
Pilates
St Matthew’s Church
Implemented in 2011
Karate
Langford Primary School
Implemented in 2011
Scariofunk Dance
Langford Primary School
Implemented in 2011
Pottery
Hurlingham and Chelsea Secondary School
Implemented in January 2012
Table Tennis Club
Hurlingham and Chelsea Secondary School
Implemented in January 2012
Agewell Yoga
Hurlingham and Chelsea Secondary School
Implemented in January 2012
Agewell Circuit Training
Imperial Community Rooms
Due in April 2012
DIY Class
Macbeth Centre
Due in April 2012
Jewellery Class
Hurlingham and Chelsea Secondary School
Due in May 2012
Stained Glass Class
Hurlingham and Chelsea Secondary School
Due in May 2012
Library
Hurlingham and Chelsea Secondary School
Due in May 2012
Jewellery Club
Macbeth Centre
Due in May 2012
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