WORK on Truro Lifehouse in Tresawls Road is well underway, with the new community hub planned for opening in September.

An extension to All Saints Highertown church, the £1.7-million project will provide community facilities for a parish with an estimated population of 6,000, including the neighbourhoods of Penn an Drea and Malabar.

Volunteer groups were invited to tour the brand new buildings with a view to imagining their activities taking place in its many meeting rooms.

The floor plan includes a light and airy social area called The Street, which will be accessible from either end and will include a café space designed specifically to cater for neurodivergent customers, with plenty of light and greenery at both ends.

“It’s less about making a profit and mor about providing somewhere for people to meet,” said church secretary and project leader Tony Cruddas. “There are currently no community facilities of this kind, especially since Sainsbury’s closed its café.

“We have tried to make it comfortable and welcoming, so parents dropping older children at school will feel able to come here and meet friends over coffee while their toddlers run around.”

For many years, the church has made its buildings available to local charities, organisations and groups for activities including meetings, food banks and children’s clothing exchanges. However, says Tony, “While our welcome might have a warm feel, our facilities let us down.”

The Lifehouse Project was launched in 2016 following a consultation process which revealed a common desire for the church to offer a community hub. As well as securing grant funding, the church raised money for the project through collections, open days and fetes organised with neighbouring residents’ associations.

The result is a resource for the 21st-century, with WiFi throughout and a screen with projector and audio system which can be used in several spaces at once to cater for maximum numbers. While the kitchen has been designed to commercial standards, meaning users will require qualifications, there will be tea-making facilities available to all.

Bathroom facilities will include a Changing Places room with hoist and bed, which will be advertised on the Changing Places website for all in need to find.

Parking facilities will be upgraded with spaces for around 80 vehicles, including two electric car chargers. The spaces will be powered and heated using air source heat pumps and solar panels.

Built in 1979, the church has continued to minister throughout the building programme. Churchwarden Jean Cooke said: “I’m so excited. I was there at the beginning of the project in 2017, and we all thought it had died after Covid. But then Tony came along and said, let’s go for it. It looks like God did want a community centre in Highertown.

“The estates on both sides need somewhere to go, somewhere they can feel safe. Our mission is to help local people have a better quality of life.”

Adds Tony: “A church hall and toilets would have served a purpose but with no room for growth. We wanted to aim as high as we could.”