Lewsey Christian Centre, Luton

The Lewsey Christian Centre is located on the outskirts of Luton in the centre of urban housing area. It has a growing young congregation and acts as a meeting place for a number of secular groups.

As part of its on-going development programme to better meet the needs of the community we were asked to produce a feasibility study for the extension and alteration of the church. The brief was to add an additional multi-purpose space that could be easily adapted for a wide range of activities and different user groups. In addition we were tasked with altering the layout of the existing building to provide more logical circulation and congregation spaces.

The proposals introduced a new circulation route in form of an internal ‘street’ linking the vehicular and pedestrian access to the building and also doubling as a cafeteria / waiting area serving the existing Church hall and new activity hall. New kitchen facilities were proposed accessed from the multi-use circulation space and the main Church hall to facilitate catering for different size events.

The proposals also gave the Church a greater visual prominence with a new entrance and contemporary brick tower angled to reflect the Church’s street corner location.