Jean Stokes
Community Centre

Project

Built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the estate has suffered from crime and anti-social behaviour, illustrating the gap between rich and poor in Islington.

The refurbishment of the JSCC is a pilot project within the We Are Cally programme. Led by Islington Council, the scheme is reviewing the use and design of public assets to help boost employability, skills and cohesion within the borough’s communities.

The JSCC is being redesigned in collaboration with local people. The aim is to revive disused spaces, making the centre more accessible and suitable for use by the community and voluntary organisations.

Brief

The JSCC needs to be extended. It also requires both light-touch and extensive non-structural refurbishments to create a holistic centre across two floors. These will offer space for providing activities and services, as well as offices.

In addition to the JSCC, we are also working on West Library for We Are Cally.

Challenges

The project has multiple stakeholders whose interests must be carefully considered and balanced. They include the local people who live in the residential accommodation on the four floors above the community centre.

The JSCC will remain open and available to the community throughout the process. We need to ensure the operations team is happy during both the site investigation and construction stages.

Finally, the project must be completed within a small budget.

Solution

By working closely with all parties, we have been able to propose an optimal structural solution that meets the brief and all requirements within budget. Those involved include:

• local residents and service users

• Islington Council

• lead architect

• JSCC operations team

• planning officer

• quantity surveyor

• tree conservation team (to deal with tree roots on site)

• gas company (to divert an existing gas pipe).

We have secured planning permission and reached agreements with each party, and we are now ready to produce the information needed to start the building work. 

We are employing an agile approach to keep up with the constantly, and at times rapidly, changing scope in response to stakeholders’ input.

This includes being willing to help when challenges come up, as well as highlighting issues before they become a problem. For example, we:

• raised awareness of the potential risks involved in keeping the site open to the public

• insisted that a survey be carried out, which discovered a gas main on the site of the proposed entrance

• sourced a piling contractor who could work within all the site constraints, and negotiated the best price for the client.