Project Description
Location: CATCH Community & Youth Centre, Harehills, Leeds
Client: Leeds City Council
Employers Agent: Stack Architects
Principal Designer: Stack Architects
Contract Type: JCT Design & Build Contract 2011
Project Summary
- Decommissioning and relocation of two storey modular building
- Floor area 180m2
- 10 refurbished modular bays plus 3 new modular bays supplied by Enviro Building Solutions
- All groundworks, foundation and drainage works undertaken
- Electrical and mechanical works
- Completed May 2016
- Project value £130,000
The Challenge: Modular Building Relocation and Recycling
CATCH (‘Community Action To Create Hope’) is a registered charity based in Leeds. For over a decade, the charity has been engaging with adults and young people from diverse backgrounds, offering new opportunities and exploring positive alternatives to improve young lives.
When the charity needed a new home to provide and develop safe spaces for recreation, education and leisure time activities, West Yorkshire Police came to the rescue by donating an existing two storey modular building. Enviro Building Solutions was tasked with decommissioning the building, refurbishing interiors and exteriors and moving the new facility to a site secured for this purpose in Harehills, Leeds.
The project also called for the addition of new modules to create extra space to enable CATCH to establish the ARK, a state-of-the-art modular community and youth centre offering activity spaces, meeting rooms and a community café.
“Enviro Building Solutions kept us closely informed of work crew schedules, delivery dates and projected completion dates for different phases of the project. The communication was always clear, informative and helpful. We never had a single miscommunication throughout the project. The communication with work crews was just as effective.”
Creating a new community centre
When Community Engagement Officer Asad Razzaq identified a modular building on a West Yorkshire Police training site which was due for demolition, he worked closely with CATCH to put together a business case to acquire the modular building and raise funds to move the building from Wakefield to Leeds.
Enviro Building Solutions used their expertise and facilities to decommission the facility and relocate the modular building and add new modules at the new site in Leeds. This was a complex task involving preparing foundations, provision of foul and surface water drainage, electrical, mechanical, FFE as well as fire and intruder alarms. Additional work included Tarmacking around the building to improve access, exterior landscaping and perimeter fencing for security.
Additional modules increase the footprint
Once on site, Enviro Building Solutions provided a further three modules from their own stock to increase the footprint of the building in line with the proposed activities of the charity. Extensive internal and external refurbishment work has successfully created a warm and welcoming environment including a new café and children’s centre, providing a valuable asset for the charity, the young people who use the facility and the local community.
The entire project was completed and recommissioned in just eight weeks. In 2017, CATCH in Harehills won an accolade as ‘Best place for children in Leeds’ at the Child Friendly Leeds Awards.
