During our work on the Sabrina Centre, Berkeley – Gloucester Constabulary project, we refurbished The Friendship Café. The Café is a community hub which supports young people, children, and families in Gloucester, through enhancing social integration and teaching the community life skills.
The Friendship Café runs a city farm as a community project. St James’ City Farm allows the people of Gloucester to learn how to grow their own vegetables, how to house livestock and offers horse riding lessons. The café’s provisions also include language classes, art, sports and food classes, multi-faith forums, and food bank support.
When we visited the ageing building with Gloucester Police, we decided that the main hall required renovation, which would enable the café to raise money from room hire. Working with our supply chain partners, Ian Williams Carpentry, Smiths of Gloucester and RB Flooring, we led the demolition of a DJ booth, assessment, removal and disposal of asbestos, removal of carpet, renovation and finishing of timber flooring.
The hall refurbishment has allowed the Friendship Café to host more events, which will subsequently increase revenue for the charity, utilise the hall for essential services such as food distribution during the Covid-19 pandemic and safeguards staff in the building through the removal of asbestos.
Going forward, we will continue to support the work of the Friendship café.
