Islington Council delivers 23 new homes and a community centre in Holloway

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Islington Council welcomed Holloway residents to celebrate the opening of the new Goodinge Community Centre and 23 new genuinely affordable homes at a community event on the weekend.

The 23 new homes and the new Goodinge Community Centre have been built on the site of an older community centre that had become run-down.

The council had originally received planning permission for a new community centre and 23 flats, comprising 13 flats for social rent, 4 for shared ownership, and a further 6 for outright sale to assist with funding the project.

However, in 2016 funding became available to convert all of the flats for sale into accommodation for social rent. The development now offers 100% genuinely affordable homes, of which 80% are for social rent.

The council homes properties are a mix of one, two and three-bedroom flats, and 3 of the flats are fully wheelchair accessible. The new homes now house 90 people.

The new Goodinge community centre features up-to-date facilities including a café and a new stage and lighting rig, which will benefit community organisations such as the centre’s drama class, which has been active for more than 40 years.

The centre also boasts a “changing places” toilet, which provides additional facilities such as a hoist, a changing bench and a shower for people with profound and multiple disabilities, beyond those usually found in a standard accessible toilet.

The new centre will offer a variety of social activities such as baby dance, keep fit classes, computer technology lessons, a lunch club, community choir, and Taekwondo.

Cllr Diarmaid Ward, Executive Member for Housing and Development, said:

“There are so many families in need of secure, genuinely affordable housing and I am delighted to say that this project will provide a home for 23 families – housing 90 people.

“In the last four years Islington council has built more council housing than we have in the last thirty. We are serious about doing our part to tackle the housing crisis and this project is just one of many that is building a legacy of stable and secure housing stock that will benefit the borough for generations.”

Doris Hestor, Chair of the Goodinge Community Centre, said:

“The New Goodinge is a beautiful building ,which will accommodate the wider community.

"We feel we have been given a oyster with a amazing pearl inside."