This project focused on the refurbishment of Douglas Road Youth Centre (the old school), and at a later stage the demolition of Douglas Road Education Centre next door.
The Youth Centre was to be renovated to provide new indoor multi-agency facilities and work space, and site of the education centre would later be redeveloped to create an additional facility.
The Youth Centre was built about 123 years ago, which meant that a lot of the work was to modernise the site.
Firstly, we focused on making sure the building was up to current standards. This included installing roof insulation, making repairs, stripping back walls to brick and lining to meet thermal requirements, the floor dug up to level and install a damp proof course and new windows.
We planned to change the configuration to incorporate a crèche, an activity room, outside play area, group work kitchen and new meeting rooms.
We identified alterations to make the building more comfortable and accessible such as suspended ceilings, disability hoists in the activity room and disabled toilets as well as infant’s toilets.
Finally, we replaced the heating system with air source heating and solar panels, re-wired the building and installed door access systems. We also made sure that we had Wi-Fi for the public and staff from other agencies to use.
In addition to the refurbishment work, we set up a consultation group made up of parents and staff who would use the centre, whose purpose was to consider what facilities needed to be available at the site. A group of Health and Social young people from Eirias High School were involved in developing the plans, including a site visit with the project manager, and writing supporting letters for funding.
We didn’t want to lose memories the building held for many in the local community. We took steps to preserve the original features. The original school bell was renovated to make it safe but ensure it could remain on site.