BJF Group’s Construction Division has recently started work on a complete refurbishment and extension of the Sevenoaks Community Centre.
To mark the start of the project we were joined by Cllr Nicholas Busvine OBE – Mayor of Sevenoaks, Sir Michael Fallon MP and Linda Larter MBE – Sevenoaks Town Clerk as well as staff and students from St John’s Primary School and members of the project team and Council for a ground breaking ceremony.
Despite the typically British weather an excellent time was had by all. The students and Mayor filled and buried a time capsule featuring various items including a copy of the newspaper from the day for future generations to dig up in 50 years’ time and get a taste of what life was like on the 1st of November 2019.
The community centre, due to reopen in December 2020, is a key asset to the people of Sevenoaks, hosting events for young and old throughout the year. The importance of the project was evident in speeches by the Mayor and Sir Michael Fallon, both of whom urged us to think about the part that the community centre will play as a modern, vibrant hub for the Sevenoaks Community for many years to come.
The project involves a complete strip back to shell including the demolition of internal walls and a total remodelling of the interior of the building including an extension to one of the halls. The exterior will also be refreshed with a new entrance, windows and an attractive new look designed by architects Theis + Khan.
Barry Foster, Managing Director at BJF Group said:
“This is an important project for BJF Group and is one that will provide a valuable asset to the community of Sevenoaks for many years to come.
We are delighted to have been joined by a broad range of representatives from both the project team and the local community to celebrate the start of what will be an exciting project for everyone involved.
This is our first project with Sevenoaks Council and will hopefully be the first of many.”
Cllr Nicholas Busvine OBE, Mayor of Sevenoaks said:
“The new centre is the latest project in the Sevenoaks Town Council’s Northern Sevenoaks Masterplan to regenerate the local area. The old centre was used by many members of the community and the new centre is eagerly awaited and we are pleased today to mark the start on the building.
We are grateful to the students from St John’s Primary School for helping with the burying of the time capsule we hope that they will revisit it in the future.”
