Community centre for former school building
WORK is set to begin redeveloping a city suburb’s old school building to transform it into a new centre for the community.
The current Old School building in Lisvane, Cardiff, has been used as a community centre for 30 years but it will be redeveloped to provide a library, IT centre and meeting rooms.
The building will be retained and extended as part of the new development, but the library currently located in a portable building will be knocked down to make way for the new build.
David Jones, the chair of the trustees of Lisvane Old School Community Centre charity, said: “The residents in Lisvane were very keen to keep the main old school building because although it’s not listed, it’s considered to be a landmark site in the village and everyone is quite fond of it.”
The project already has planning permission and is due to start building as soon as a sustainable drainage issue is resolved.
Mr Jones said this is due to be resolved in the next four weeks. The development will then take roughly 12 months to be completed.
The trustees began the process of research for the development in 2004, and have been seeking the £1.2m funding for over a decade.
A total of £600,000 of the funding has come from the Churchlands housing development as part of the community infrastructure payments, and £100,000 came from a Welsh Government community facilities grant.
The Lisvane community has raised £350,000 through fundraising and regular contributions from Lisvane Community Council.
Mr Jones said: “We aim to provide the kind of facility that we think a village like Lisvane requires in the 21st century.
“The centre will be run by volunteers and will be self-supporting. There is a possibility that the café section might be franchised but that’s a decision we haven’t taken yet.”
Village activities are currently suspended due to Coronavirus, but if they are able to resume next year events which normally take place in the Old School may move to Lisvane Memorial Hall while the work is completed.
Mr Jones added: “I think the new centre will improve the sense of community in the area because it will be a hub for people, a meeting place and the plan is to have a café run at least six days a week so people can socialise.”