CATCH Community & Youth Centre in Leeds

CATCH Community & Youth Centre – Leeds

CATCH Community Centre

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
CATCH Community & Youth Centre in Leeds
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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.”

Asad Razzaq, Community Engagement Officer, West Yorkshire Police

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.

Nevendon Community Centre drone plan view

The Nevendon Centre – Wickford Community Association

Nevendon Community Centre
Nevendon Community Centre Site Plan
Nevendon Community Centre Rear of Building
Nevendon Community Centre Car Park

Project Description

Location: Nevendon, Essex
Client: Basildon Borough Council
Employers Agent: Calfordseaden LLP
Principal Designer: Enviro Building Solutions Ltd / Calford Seaden (Health & Safety) Limited
M&E Partner: Mitton Group
Contract Type: JCT Design & Build Contract 2016

Project Summary

  • Community hall facility incorporating a members’ bar and lounge, commercial kitchen, offices, stores and washrooms with an adjoining pre-school building
  • Floor area 1100m2 (external area 2200m2)
  • All groundworks, foundations and drainage works plus access roads, car parking and soft play area
  • Electrical and mechanical works
  • Completed December 2019
  • Project value £2.2M
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The Challenge: Using modular building systems to create a new community centre and preschool

When Basildon Council wanted to create a new community building and preschool to replace existing facilities located on two separate sites, they selected modular building systems to deliver an affordable, fast track solution.

``Enviro BSL were a pleasure to work with, driven by the need to ensure client satisfaction and exceed expectations. Communication was always informative and helpful. With any project, obstacles arise but Enviro BSL were able to address these swiftly with client satisfaction at the core of any decisions. Changes instructed by the client during construction were easily incorporated by Enviro BSL, overcoming hurdles with changes in the designs. The quality of finish matches that of traditional construction along with the impressive spans achieved for the sports hall. Gladly look forward to working with Enviro BSL again.``

Tunc Doru, Senior Building Surveyor, Calfordseaden LLP

This parkland site already housed a preschool facility which was scheduled for demolition and replacement. Wickford Community Centre, located nearby, was considered no longer fit for purpose. Therefore the decision was made to construct a multifunctional space, creating a totally new facility providing extended potential for the local community.

This was an open public park site in a residential area with 10 storey flats to one side of the development, presenting a number of practical and logistical challenges.

Nevendon Community Centre drone plan viewEnviro Building Solutions successfully delivered purpose-designed modular buildings, managing all aspects from initial demolition works and access road improvements to mains services upgrades, bringing the project in on time and to budget.

Enjoy our 3D walk-around of the completed project below.

A comprehensive community building specification

Work began in April 2019, with the entire project completed and commissioned by early December 2019.

The attractive and functional space houses a six metre height community event hall, school modular building facility, full commercial kitchen, members’ bar and lounge, washrooms and storage space. Externally, Enviro Building Solutions also managed the external landscaping works. A large newly decked car park with overflow ‘grasscrete’ area, upgrades to access roads, fencing, floodlighting, bin stores, cycle shed and a soft play area for the preschool facility were all created.

Exterior detail to Nevendon Community CentreThis is a complex community-building project with a full range of external building features. These include cedar cladding, contrasting brick slip finishes, aluminium windows and doors in contrasting colours, brise soleil aluminium louvres, roller shutters for security and internal rainwater gutter systems to service the differing roof levels. The hall flooring features a high-end finish using Junckers Nordic Oak flooring. This was specified by the client to provide a hard-wearing and practical solution.

“It has been great working with Enviro Building Solutions Ltd on this challenging project. They actively engaged with the various project stakeholders effectively which helped the delivery of the project. They have been professional and supportive at all times, with a drive to finding the best resolution to any issues arising to support the project. This has resulted in a fantastic building that will benefit the community for many years.”

Hazel Collins, Senior Regeneration Officer, Basildon Borough Council

Optimising the potential for modular building design

The community hall section of the project, with a ceiling height of almost six metres, called for innovative methods of working including design, manufacture, transport and construction. Due to the required ceiling height for the event hall, the individual components of this building, including the floor, roof and wall panels were created offsite within a factory environment.

Main hall of Nevendon Community Centre looking to the stageWorking in a residential area with access issues as well as transportation limitations for such a tall building, the hall sections were cleverly crafted for a ‘flatpack’ delivery method. The new event hall is large enough to comfortably house a boxing ring.

Once transported to site, these were assembled and erected to form the community event hall. Enviro Building Solutions then used standard modular techniques to build the various sized modular bays in the factory, combining these with adapted systems on site to create varied ceiling heights within the building.

Minimal local disruption

With water, electrics and gas mains upgrades all required to provide appropriate services on site, the company introduced a short time span traffic management system to minimise local disruption.

In addition to the practical site challenges, the advent of the annual local carnival meant that the project had to be shut down completely for a long weekend. A safe access route was created right across the active site for heavy vehicles to deliver rides and equipment.

Nevendon Community Centre Club HouseEnviro Building Solutions were on site for just eight months with this project. A new and modern modular community centre was constructed far more quickly and efficiently than traditional building methods. The resulting community building has been welcomed by local residents who are delighted to have a family-orientated meeting space.

Both inside and out, the finished building does not have a modular look and feel; it is a solid structure creating a space where people can enjoy spending time.