St George's Crypt is a day and night-time refuge and has been providing care and support for thousands of homeless and disadvantaged people since 1930.

The refuge supports up to 120 people per day in the care centre and 15 per night in the over-night centre providing the following services;

• Shelter
• Food & drink
• Clothing
• Healthcare
• Skills training
• Arts, music & drama workshops
• Volunteering opportunities for former service users
• Partnerships with other key agencies for referrals
• Two hostels for residents with a history of alcohol dependency

Current building description: St George's Crypt is situated on the ground floor of the St George's Church building in the heart of the commercial centre of Leeds and is comprised of a care centre, kitchen, public reception, service-user reception, duty office, five admin offices, showers, laundry room, service user shop, plant room and chapel.

Initial redevelopment of the refuge was undertaken 10 years ago, however since that time the needs of the client group have changed significantly, becoming more complex, especially for those aged 25 and under. There are therefore a number of areas within the refuge that now require redevelopment and refurbishment.

Reasons for development

• The building currently has inadequate provision for over-night sleeping; service users bed-down on mattresses on the floor of the care centre
• They lack the necessary space for their arts & skills workshops
• There is a deficit of storage areas throughout the building
• Only 45% of the total building space is currently available for service users

Planned development

St George's Crypt intends to make the following developments:

• 12 overnight private bed spaces
• Refurbishment of toilet & shower facilities
• Refurbishment of healthcare & treatment rooms
• New reception area
• New interview rooms
• A newly configured cafe-style space to replace the existing rather institutional crypt social space.
• New service users lounge
• New 'pavilion' extension incorporating three multi-purpose training and activity rooms offering sessions such as construction, basic food hygiene, horticulture, music, drama and art.
• New therapeutic 'cloister' garden which will be designed with input from the service users.
• An increase in service user accessibility from 55% to 80%

The Department of Communities and Local Government regard this development as a flagship scheme.

How CRASH intends to help

CRASH is intending to assist St George's Crypt with this development by pledging a cash grant of £70,000.

CRASH will also source free and discounted materials and the following companies have already generously supplied materials for this project:

• British Gypsum
• Aggregate Industries
• MK Electric
• Hunter Plastics