The Edmonton building has undergone a comprehensive revamp and now offers additional facilities for local people – plus a café

A major £3million refurbishment of an Edmonton Green community building has been completed.

Tenants and local people came together last month to celebrate the official reopening of Community House.

The three-storey building in Fore Street is used by a number of local charities and voluntary groups but had previously been “under utilised”. The revamped site now also houses a café, disability resource centre, daycare services for people with learning disabilities, as well as the previous voluntary and community service tenants.

Enfield Council hopes its investment in the refurbishment project “will attract more people to the hub and the services offered”.

At the reopening event on Wednesday, 18th February, guests explored the transformed building, heard from the artists behind new ground floor murals and enjoyed refreshments in the new Snack’n’Chat Café.

Designed by local creative service Doodle Designs and artist Amaechi Anolue, the three murals were created in partnership with local groups, “reflecting the voices, experiences and creativity of the people who use Community House”.

Council leader Ergin Erbil spoke about the importance of continued investment in Edmonton and how improving local spaces “helps strengthen community pride, opportunity and wellbeing”.

Sam Neal and Stephanie van den Broek from the revamp project team shared how over the past year Community House “has been reimagined as a brighter, more accessible and welcoming space for everyone”.

The redesign was shaped in collaboration with tenants and user groups, ensuring colours, wayfinding and new murals “reflect the identity and creativity of the community while making the building easier and more intuitive to use”.

Across the building, improvements include fresh décor, new flooring and upgraded heating and ventilation. There is a new enclosed computer room, improved physiotherapy rooms and accessible toilets.

The disability resource centre “supports disabled people to learn new skills, access wellbeing activities and build friendships”.

The revamp had originally been earmarked to cost £2.43m, but a recent council report confirmed that “the state of the building” in Fore Street was found to be “worse than was expected”.

An extra £493,000 was spent on the works required, which were needed “to cover critical activities such as compliance with fire regulations”. It brought the refurbishment costs up to a total of £2.92m.

The money was also needed to cover the cost of “condition assessments, accelerated timescales, and additional design and management work,” the council report adds.

Prior to the revamp works starting last year, Community House was under-utilised, with around 63% occupancy, but its now hoped that with the improvements made and the new cafe, more people will be encouraged to use the building and rent the spaces available.

The refurbishment project was part of the ‘Shaping Edmonton’ programme led by the council, which is delivering a number of improvements across the area.

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