The idea
We plan to carry out renovations to our Community Hub near Clissold Park to turn it into a community space where disadvantage people in Hackney and Islington - including Peter Bedford's tenants - can take part in activities helping them build self-esteem, form new relationships and improve life skills.
The space will contain new workshops, meeting rooms, a Conversation Café space and a renovated garden. They will host varied activity groups - creative crafts, digital inclusion, healthy living and exercise classes - alongside peer support activities where people can support each other in overcoming challenges. In the Conversation Cafe people will be supported to build their social skills through facilitated conversations with their peers. In the garden, people will produce food together, and in summer eat together. We will also carry out changes to make the building more accessible for disabled people - including people with learning disabilities with simple signs and graphics.
What we'll deliver
- Extend Clissold Hub building to create a Conversation Cafe
- Install a pergola in our therapeutic community gardens
- Create a new meeting room for 1:1 meetings and peer support
- Create a space for wide range of workshops and activities
- Install new signage and graphics to improve site accessibility
- Install a new disabled accessible WC
Why it's a great idea
The project came out of discussions with our tenants and participants via our tenants’ forum, peer support groups, and tenants' surveys – alongside individual feedback and our 50 years’ experience of working in both boroughs.
Our tenants and participants are among those most at risk from social exclusion and include people who have experienced mental health issues, learning disability, substance abuse issues etc. We know that many need extensive support to develop the basic skills needed to live independently and be part of the community.
PBHA have long worked to support people to overcome barriers to independence. We see ourselves as much more than a provider of services, but a community of people – beneficiaries, volunteers and staff – who support each other in their self-development. Transforming Clissold Hub will make it into a much more welcoming, therapeutic space, with brightly lit spacious rooms perfect for people to come together, learn new skills and improve well-being.
Steps to get it done
- Mth 1: Developed detailed specification for tender
- Mth 2 - 4: Tender period for a contractor
- Mth 4: Contract begins
- Mth 5 - 10: Renovation of existing space including creation of meeting room & disabled WC
- Mth 5 - 10: Simultaneous extension of building
- Mth 9 - 11: Install pergola and shelter in garden
- Mth 11: Install signage in renovated spaces
Peter Bedford was initially launched in 1969 by Michael Sorenson, a probation officer, to help those leaving prison to re-join society, but we have since expanded to support a wide range of disadvantaged adults.
Since our foundation, PBHA tenants and participations have led our work. As Sorenson put it, “It’s not my organisation, it’s yours”. An ethos of mutual self-hep has long underpinned all we do, with tenants self-organising and helping each other. Our values – the importance of respect, self-help, mutual support, participation in the community and meaningful work – matter as much today.
We recently became a Psychologically Informed Environment (PIE) and work to ensure we are fully aware of the emotional impact of all aspects of the environment on participants – including the physical environment. Our project will build on this approach by making Clissold Hub a welcoming space for social, group and individual activity that helps people improve well-being and skills.
