14 Apr Topping out celebrates 55 homes and two community centres

Communities came together to celebrate topping out ceremonies at the site of a £28 million housing project that will deliver two new community centres.

Community representatives, residents and councillors marked the exciting milestone in the project’s development at Learie Constantine and Brent Indian sites Dudden Hill Lane, Willesden, on 28 March.

The construction company, Willmott Dixon, is delivering the £28 million venture.

The Brent Indian project will see £15.64 million invested in a brand-new community centre alongside 29 affordable homes that include three wheelchair accessible homes and 26 family-sized apartments of up to three bedrooms from the ground floor to the fourth floor. The new Brent Indian Community Centre will include a large multi-purpose hall, commercial kitchen, offices and an IT training room.

Raj Mistry, secretary of the Brent Indian Community Centre, said: “Today’s topping out ceremony gives us a sense of satisfaction that the outer skeleton of the building is coming to an end and that construction on the next phase can begin.

“We look forward to seeing the completed construction, which will offer much-needed community space to our existing members at the Dudden Hill site and to people who have recently moved into the area.”

Residents and councillors also celebrated work beginning on a second community centre and 26 new affordable homes further down Dudden Hill Lane. The £12.5 million Learie Constantine Community Centre project will also see the construction of a new building with a community centre on the ground floor with 26 one to three bedroom apartments above it.

Norman Mullings, chair of the Learie Constantine Centre, said: “We cannot wait to get back into the Constantine Centre. We are lost without a place to meet and continue to support each other. Our prayers and hopes are to get back into the centre as soon as we can.”

Cllr Promise Knight, Cabinet Member for Housing, Homelessness and Renters’ Security, said: “Today we are a step closer to another 55 affordable homes in the making for Brent residents. We are also approaching the day when we will be able to hand over the keys of the Brent Indian and Learie Constantine centres to their communities.”