Work finally starts on the old primary school on Bennett road in Headingley, to transform the venue into a community centre combined with a business ‘hot desk’ function and a superb cafe

After three years of campaigning, planning and raising money HDT has been granted the chance to bring a new kind of community facility into the Headingley area.

Building work has started on the former primary school on Bennett Road, Headingley to transform the building into a multi-functional facility: ‘HEART’ (Headingley Enterprise and Arts Centre). The building will play host to a café which will be Headingley’s only off-road outside eating area. There will also be sound-proof music rooms, meeting and conference facilities, as well as a community centre with spaces for community groups to book and use. The centre will bring business and enterprise into the Headingley and it is greatly hoped that the majority of these will be from start-up companies.

Chair of the HEART board, Lesley Jeffries, is delighted that the building work is about to start: ‘At last the lobbying and legal discussion is over, and we can begin the exciting process of putting into practice our vision for a new HEART to the community in Headingley. We expect to open before Christmas 2010 and look forward to welcoming all sorts of users into the spaces we will provide.’

This eco-friendly development has been awarded almost £16,000 by the Green Energy Trust, which is to be put towards the cost of solar panels for electricity generation, as well as solar hot water panels. The system is expected to annually save almost two tonnes of Co2 emissions.

The building is expected to host over 150 groups on an annual basis, with over 7500 people benefiting from the centre, through a programme of events for community and also business networking and conferencing. Meeting rooms, ‘hot desks’ and halls can be booked on a sessional basis, and HEART is already taking expression of interest forms for the opening at the start of November, if you might have an interest in any of the rooms, please contact Natalie Flint on natalie@headingleydevelopmenttrust.org.uk.

*View loads more pictures on Headingley HEART's photostream on flickr