We are sad to announce that we will have to say goodbye to our current community hub, Foundation House, in June this year. Since it opened in 2018, the hub on Masons Road has provided low-cost space to 12 charities, as well as supporting many more through activities for the local community and flexible spaces available for hire. We are proud of what we have achieved at Foundation House, including our Fun Palaces, regular Community Cafes, Winter Warm Hubs, a successful Repair Cafe in partnership with Net Zero Stratford and hosting weekly ESOL classes and NHS diabetic eye screening.
Earlier this year, the landlord for Foundation House gave notice of its intention to exercise a break clause in the lease in order that the land can be developed as part of the Canal Quarter Redevelopment Zone. Despite attempts to negotiate an extension of the lease to provide enough time to find alternative premises in consultation with the current user groups and stakeholders, this wasn’t granted.
We have now given notice to our licence holders to vacate the building by 21st June and we're offering them support to find new homes by brokering introductions with other local community facilities and funding, if needed, to cover the cost of storage or space in the short term.
Sara Aspley, Chief Executive for Stratford Town Trust said: “It’s extremely disappointing to be moving out of Foundation House in this way. We had hoped for more time to plan, but it is simply out of our hands. We genuinely value the work all our groups deliver within our hub and have seen firsthand the positive impact it has had on the lives of so many people. We remain committed to the need for a community hub in the town and hope that from this situation will emerge a new facility of which we can all be proud.”
Once the Foundation House lease comes to an end, we are exploring the possibility of running some of our community hub activities from Venture House for a period of 12 months while we seek a longer-term solution.