Modernising Horley Community Centre - online exhibition

The Council is proposing to allocate over £2m for the comprehensive refurbishment and modernisation of Horley Community Centre so that it can better meet the needs and aspirations of local people.

We want to transform it into a vibrant, modern, multipurpose space that can support a wider range of activities for the whole community.

About Horley Community Centre

Horley Community Centre is open for activities and lunch Monday to Friday for all ages. During the evenings and weekends, spaces within the Centre are available to hire providing people with an opportunity to socialise, learn and access support. The Centre also provides valuable spaces for local groups and statutory services to meet.

The building was constructed in the early 1980s and has changed very little in over 40 years. On the ground floor it has one main community area, a social space and restaurant area that can be divided. Upstairs there is the Regent Hall, which is a large community space.

Why are we modernising the Centre?

The existing internal layout of the building limits Horley Community Centre’s ability to meet community need; it also currently supports significantly fewer people and groups than the Council’s other community centres at Banstead and Woodhatch. By remodelling the internal layout of the building we could increase the number of multipurpose, hireable spaces so the Centre can broaden its offer and be a greater focus for building a stronger and healthier community. Horley Community Centre is in need of significant repair and maintenance, including works to the entrance, replacing windows, replacing heating, new sinks and toilets in the bathrooms, flooring and internal decorations.

What are our objectives?

The Council’s objectives for the modernisation of Horley Community Centre are to:

• address the significant repairs and maintenance needed
• create a more welcoming and accessible layout, with multipurpose spaces that can be used for a wider range of activities to better meet the needs of the community
• provide a focal point for work with more charities and organisations, that will enhance the support available for local people
• increase the number and diversity of visitors to the Centre and reduce the subsidy that the Council provides
• improve the environmental sustainability of the building through investment in energy efficiency and other green measures to contribute to the Council’s net zero by 2030 ambitions
• respond to what local people have told us they want, such as a broader range of affordable classes, more social activities, and a coffee shop

Environmental sustainability

The project offers an opportunity to deliver objectives that support the Council’s Environmental Strategy. We will introduce measures to reduce energy consumption and associated carbon emissions. This will make the building more comfortable to visit and to work in.

These upgrades include:

• replacing the gas boiler with an electric alternative
• installing solar panels to generate renewable energy
• replacing windows to reduce drafts
• cycle and mobility scooter parking
• water efficient toilets
• new planting in a landscaped outdoor area

What you’ve told us

In 2022 we ran a public survey about the proposals for Horley Community Centre and people have continued to share their views through our community centre user surveys. Here’s a summary of the feedback received.

Activities you wanted

In our 2022 survey (which received 173 responses), 75% of participants told us that, if the Council were able to host more of the activities they are interested in, they would be highly likely or likely to visit the Centre.

The activities people were most interested in were:

• classes such as art, craft, cookery, language, dance and theatre (64%)
• social activities such as coffee mornings (58%)
• exercise and wellbeing classes (58%)

Food and drink

In 2022, we also asked about the food and drink offer people would like to see at the Centre. A coffee shop and a snack bar/light lunches were the most popular responses.

What will the changes look like?

In 2024 we appointed an Architect, John Puttick Associates (JPA), to look at how the building might change physically in order to meet Council and community objectives.

JPA’s design work proposed the following changes to the building.

Overall

• Increase the number of hireable spaces to seven
• Repurpose existing spaces to create new usable rooms
• Relocate the toilets to a different place on the ground floor

On the ground floor

• Add a front extension to create a new entrance lobby and reception
• Make the kitchen smaller and create a new servery area in a new location
• Make the café more visible as you enter the building
• Create new meeting rooms and activity space(s)
• Include a changing places toilet that has more space and equipment for those people that need it

On the first floor

• Retain the large upstairs room
• Remove the existing stage and provide a new collapsable stage
• New hireable community spaces with natural light (e.g. for art classes, meetings, advice sessions etc)

Externally

• New seating area
• A direct entrance to the hairdresser
• Move the minibus parking; either on-street or in the car park
• Retain existing access to the rear car park*

*The car park is not in Council ownership and is not included in the scope of the modernisation project.