Lifeline Community Centre

LifeLine Church had worked on the Becontree Estate since the 1980s from a scattered collection of buildings. The refurbishment of a former dairy, and latterly a tile warehouse, creates a new community centre and worship space for the church and its charity Community Resources. Assemble’s design strips away decades of ad hoc partitions and suspended ceilings to recover the original industrial volumes, steel trusses and brick arches, creating three adaptable spaces used for everything from toddler playgroups to Sunday services.

The low energy building is heated by underfloor heating from an air source heat pump. Fresh air provision and control of summer overheating for a design occupancy of 300 people is achieved by ventilation chimneys, which are acoustically lined to limit sound leakage to neighbouring properties during church services.