Croydon’s new £6.5m state-of-the-art Youth Zone is taking shape with the steel frame installed this week.
Passers-by can now see the outline of the Legacy Youth Zone at the site on Whitehorse Road in Selhurst, where construction work started earlier this year.
And this week young people were proud to unveil their specially-designed hoardings, which highlight the amazing opportunities that will be on offer at the centre and brighten up the site while the work is underway.
They were joined by representatives from OnSide, the national charity who are developing the Youth Zone, and Croydon Council, who have contributed half the £6.5m construction costs.
The rest has been supplied by a number of trusts and grants from organisations including the Queen’s Trust and the Stone Family Foundation.
Legacy will be open seven days per week, young people aged 8-19 and up to 25 for those with a disability, giving them access to over 20 activities every evening including sports, arts, music, dance, drama, climbing, cooking and more for just 50p per visit.
The young people’s boards, which adorn the site hoardings, portray key themes: the Youth Zone’s brand, Legacy, which was developed by young people; the Youth Zone’s offer and the young people’s pride in their borough. The young people worked with London-based creative agency Zak, who helped bring their ideas to life.
Barnabas Shelbourne, Youth Zone CEO, said: “We’re really excited to have the new hoardings up which the young people have been working with ZAK on, they look amazing! They are really bold, simple and tell people what we are all about and what we’re trying to do. I want to say a huge thank you to the development group for their work on this and also to ZAK Agency who have given their time and expertise to create something so special that we will keep forever in the Youth Zone once we move inside next year!”
“I’m delighted to see our new state-of-the-art youth zone progressing at pace, and these fantastic hoardings designed by some of our young people, which will brighten up the site while work is underway. The designs demonstrate their talent as well as their pride in their new centre – it’s wonderful to see”
Councillor Alisa Flemming, cabinet member for children, young people and learning
