On Saturday 6 April, after six-odd years since the design stage started, the doors of the Vibast Centre on the Redbrick Estate opened to welcome members of the public!

The Vibast Centre is a small, new build community space that offers a multipurpose main hall, kitchen, two small meeting rooms, therapy room, TMO office, management office and sanitary facilities. Together with the youth centre Soapbox, only some hundred metres away in Old Street and also designed by us, they now cater for the wide, diverse community in LB Islington by offering more versatile spaces.

Saturday was a festive afternoon to celebrate the community within and around the Redbrick Estate, with open doors, cakes, refreshments, face painting, capoeira performances and emotional and encouraging speeches. There was a constant flow of neighbours and locals coming and going, with around 90 people in the main hall at one point, marking a great success for LB Islington in getting the community engaged. Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury, alongside Claudia Webbe and Phil Graham, Councillors for Bunhill, celebrated the design and delivery of the new community centre within the inclusive Islington policies.