A new education centre for homeless women and men completes phase 1 for Spitalfields Crypt Trust

Spitalfields Crypt Trust (SCT) runs a drop-in centre where homeless people can access support, a residential recovery hostel (Acorn House), a supported housing programme that helps people transition into long-term accommodation and a training and development centre. Their mission is to enable people with complex drug and alcohol addictions to achieve lasting recovery and more fulfilling lives.

The need

When SCT merged with Hanbury Community Project they called upon CRASH to help create their training and development centre on the ground floor of the building they share with Acorn House.

The New Hanbury Project occupies the ground floor where staff deliver a day programme of personal development, education and training for men and women – from Acorn House and other organisations – in the early stages of recovery from addiction. Acorn House, a 16-bed rehabilitation hostel for homeless men with addictions, occupies the first, second and third floors of the building.

CRASH Corporate Patron Ryder Architecture worked with SCT to develop concept plans to join the ground and the first floor to create one service, shared office space to enable one workforce, and re-organise the space on the first and second floors to enable SCT to work with a larger number of people.

The CRASH solution

CRASH Corporate Patron 8build completed phase 1 by creating a doorway to physically join New Hanbury Project and Acorn House and create an open plan office on the first floor with state-of-the-art desks donated by furniture specialists HermanMiller and paint from Dulux Trade.

This set the blueprint for the rest of the project which will see the remodelling of two existing entrances and the spaces within the building to create one Recovery Hub for the clients they support.

The ground floor will have a new entrance via the courtyard and will provide a welcoming open plan area offering art, music and furniture workshops. The first-floor upgrade will create a sense of home and comfort with communal areas and one-to-one counselling rooms for Acorn House residents.

How CRASH Corporate Patrons helped