Summary of the project

As we renew our church premises, part of our vision is to place the community at the heart of our church. We are seeking to expand and enhance our facilities while also building a new resource for the community. In addition to being used for church services, the new building will be used extensively to benefit the local community and used by other agencies in a range of unique and exciting ways.

The proposed project responds to the needs of the local community, which we have researched. The main needs which have been identified by the church and a recent initiative report produced by the Council are:

• large indoor venue for local/regional events
• venues for conferences and training
• facilities for use by community organisations
• café style area for young people to access youth workers, information and advice
• increased facilities for toddler groups
• rooms available for PCT to deliver services following the loss of Emsworth Cottage Hospital
• facilities which can be let by a pre school
• full access venue which can be used to provide day care and social events for older people

The new building will be built on the existing church hall site, which is ideally located in the town and easily accessible. It will utilise a further piece of adjacent land, bought by the church some years ago, making the footprint of the new facilities around 50% larger than the existing one.