LifeLine Community Centre
2023–
LifeLine Community Centre is the adaptation and re-use of an inter-war warehouse which will become a community centre for LifeLine Church.
LifeLine Church is a deeply rooted organisation having worked in Dagenham since the 1970s. It has been using a range of buildings for its activities spread across the Becontree Estate: a school for meetings, a small community centre for lunches, activities and support, and a small office block for administration.
The redevelopment of the site on Valence Avenue allows the organisation to consolidate all of its activities into one area, better serving the people of Becontree with a generous new public building.
We are working with Simple Works to conserve and adapt as much of the original building as possible. Our aim is to undertake a careful and ecological refurbishment which will result in a well performing building which supports and provides the essential infrastructure for the community activities undertaken by Lifeline.
The project started from the position of retaining the existing buildings on site, with no demolition. Where required, new elements will be installed to provide improved thermal and acoustic performance.
The proposal re-uses a complex of three existing masonry buildings built as warehouses in the 1930s as part of the pioneering Becontree Estate in Dagenham. The existing buildings consist of a large clear-span warehouse with big steel trusses and two smaller timber-roofed warehouses.
These warehouses have been carefully internally insulated using a breathable build-up based on wood-fibre insulation, with lime plaster. Existing roof structures have been retained and restored: slender steel trusses in the large Tile Shop, and timber trusses in the Print Shop and Link Building. The failing roof finishes have been replaced. New finishes are generally simply painted plaster in back-of-house areas and timber panelling and acoustic wood-wool panels in the two main spaces.