Castlewellan Community Centre
SIF provided funding of over £790,000 for the renovation of the Castlewellan community centre to increase access to community services to people from Castlewellan and the surrounding areas by providing a fit for purpose, safe and structured environment in which they can develop existing skills or acquire new ones as well as accessing advice and support services.
The centre operates a youth club, early years’ provision and various other youth activities. It has increased the local and wider community access to services such as Community Playgroup, Mother and Toddler Groups and Home-Start etc.
Project Name: | Castlewellan Community Centre |
|---|---|
Zone: | South Eastern |
Category: | Capital |
Social Investment Fund Outcome: | Increasing Community Services |
Status: | Operational – Construction Complete |
Funding awarded: | £793,854 |
About the Project:
The project involved the refurbishment and extension of the Castlewellan community centre. The community centre was in a significant state of disrepair and the refurbishment works were necessary to bring the building up to a more modern fit for purpose standard and to comply with DDA and health and safety requirements.
The works carried out have transformed the centre into a safe and welcoming environment which houses a dedicated pre-school area and hosts a range of vital community services as well as providing space for local clubs and organisations to meet.
Progress to date:
This project has completed construction and is operational. The development of the new community centre has delivered significant benefits to the local and wider communities through access to increased and enhanced community services where residents can develop and acquire new skills and seek advice, increasing the size of the footprint of the building, environmental improvements, greater energy efficiency and improved health and wellbeing of those in the SIF South eastern zone. It has improved the community infrastructure with provision of much needed services and activities to meet the needs of all facets of the community.
Impacts:
Monitoring and evaluation of all Social Investment Fund projects is carried out using “Outcomes Based Accountability” (OBA). Where SIF has funded capital works, the project provides quarterly “post-capital” data for a period of 3 years which details the positive impacts enabled by the capital works undertaken. The final capital infographic below highlights some of the key impacts of the project to date. The Castlewellan Community Centre project is in the early stages of post capital OBA returns and OBA data collection is ongoing for the final post capital infographic.
