A nursery and family wellbeing centre in South Kilburn are set to be completely revamped, following a £7.75 million injection to progress the second phase of regeneration at the Carlton and Granville Centres.
Brent Council successfully applied for the funding from a national pot and was one of only four London boroughs to receive an award.
The first phase of this project saw the introduction of a new enterprise hub and community space, ran by the South Kilburn Trust, that has proved a big hit with local residents and budding entrepreneurs.
This next chapter will see this space expanded to accommodate even more local social enterprises, with the aim of creating 60 new jobs, helping at least 50 people into work and creating 100 volunteering opportunities over the next five years. It will enhance the community spaces available for people to use.
What’s more, further improvements to the buildings will create modern and sustainable facilities for Granville Plus Nursery School and Granville Family Wellbeing Centre based on site. Along with the building of 18 new affordable family homes, all of which will be council housing.
Existing buildings will be retrofitted to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and new parts of the project have been designed with environmentally friendly solutions to reduce carbon emissions.
The new scheme has been developed with the existing occupiers and the local community, inputting to the design every step of the way. The proposals received planning consent in January 2020.
Cllr Shama Tatler, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Property and Planning at Brent Council, said:
“The Carlton and Granville centres are at the heart of the South Kilburn community. We are thrilled to be revamping and expanding these much-loved community spaces and facilities, whilst creating more opportunities for local people – from more local jobs to training.
“Alongside this 100% of the new homes being built on site will be for social rent, which will be life-changing for 18 local families. We look forward to getting started and will work closely with our partners based in the centres to ensure their services continue to operate seamlessly throughout the duration of the works.”
This project is part of a Masterplan for South Kilburn that will deliver 2,400 new high-quality homes, more than half of which will be for existing tenants, along with improved public spaces, new health and retail facilities and more.
Works are scheduled to begin in 2022.
