Potter & Holmes were appointed as architects for this scheme in 2013, following a competitive interview process involving 13 architectural practices. We were from a shortlist of three, on the strength of consultation skills following a design workshop with the young people who will be using the building, a demonstration of design expertise & quality control throughout the project, and cost. Dursley Town Council had been looking for premises for a new Youth Centre for some time. The Tabernacle Church were seeking to improve the quality of the accommodation for the minister and his family; their kitchen was immediately below the Church Hall with effectively no sound insulation between the two… . Both parties saw the opportunity to solve their problems by separating the ground floor of the minister’s house from the remainder of the church and to convert this space into a Youth Centre with spaces which could be used by the church on Sundays following services. The Youth Centre needed a series of interconnected spaces with ease of supervision by staff to all these. Through a series of workshops involving Church and Council members and the young people a design was developed with a large open kitchen and activity space, with an adjoining “den” separated by a low cupboard and a separate computer room, maintaining visual connectivity with a door size internal window. A key aspect of the brief was that full Disabled Access should be provided, and this resulted in the front garden being transformed into a series of parallel ramps. The rear elevation was remodelled with a series of large openings for windows and doors to give natural light internally and easy access to the rear garden. The external joinery for this was donated by the architects who had previously won a raffle for the £5,000 worth of new joinery from Rationel Windows Ltd. The project was partly funded by Dursley Town Council and Tabernacle Church, the balance being Lottery Funded, and money from fund raising and donations. The contract value was £300,000 and the works were completed in November 2014.