Homerton Library opened in 1913 and became Chats Palace Arts Centre in 1976. One of 660 Carnegie Libraries built between 1883 and 1929, the iconic frontage hasn't changed much in the past 100 years. We think it's time we put a new front door on that actually welcomes our community inside. Chats Palace is a Grade ll listed building, which means that we will need to obtain not just Planning Permission but Listed Building consent as well. So let's get this right first time. Loan us the power of your imagination to dream up a new building frontage for 2017, one that makes its easy for you to come inside whatever your mobility issues. We'd like our face to be one that says a lot about who Hackney is and what we care about. Above all we'd like our new front door to have the ability to make you smile, to feel pride in your community, to give you a sense that you are part of a civic movement that is bigger and brighter because we are all in it together.

What we'll deliver:

• install lighting to highlight safe access
• install a new front door that make the building accessible to all
• lay a new even, safe and accessible pathway, removing old cellar doors
• obtain planning permission and listed building consent for all proposed works

Why it's a great idea:

Chats Palace is a much-loved local landmark. In order to play a proactive role in making Hackney a great place to live, we need to creatively and collaboratively engage with the practical challenges presented by our Grade ll listed building. Our 40th anniversary was an apt moment to pause and consider what makes Chats Palace unique and how best to fit us for the future. The outcome was a reinvigorated artistic vision and programme rooted in questions and concerns that engage us all on a daily basis. Our building need to reflect an activist responses to issues of equality and the divisions within communities. Remaining true to the definition of civic activism, supporting individual and collective actions, designed to identify and address issues of public concern, we want to promote a way of working together that will make a difference. Starting with our own front door seems like the right place ......

Steps to get it done:

• Consultation underway with LBH Property Team
• Consultation underway with local heritage & conservation officer
• First designs received and circulated for feedback
• Local architect selected and brief approved
• Mini-project timelines agreed and shared
• Mini-project timelines reviewed, updated and shared
• Project creative team appointed
• Two community open days scheduled across stage 1 project timeline
• Application for listed building consent submitted
• Application for planning permission submitted
• Community volunteer recruitment begins
• Designs approved and adopted
• Second designs received and circulated for feedback
• Third designs received and circulated for feedback
• Volunteer programme finalised and launched
• Volunteer teams completed

This is Stage 1 of a 3-stage project . Working stage by stage will ensure that we deliver on budget and to our project ambitions,.