Located next to The Bagnall Project, this ambitious project aspires to restore the derelict, iconic former mechanics and printing press building to create a vibrant cultural centre in the heart of Chesham. With a small pot of funding already secured for initial phases of the restoration, renovation works are underway and a range of projects and activities are being planned, pending the outcome of a community consultation, a planning application and fundraising bids.
Whilst we are going through the processes required to achieve our vision for the building we have temporarily utilised the ground floor workshop space for Chesham Amateur Boxing Club, which is another great collaboration for Oasis and a fantastic use of the space.
Eventually our plan for the Printworks is utilise the top floor for a large Art Box workshop, and a large workshop which will become a ‘community shed’, a craftsman led workshop aimed at bringing people together, promoting health and wellbeing through social interaction and practical activities. We would like to move the Gym onto the first floor and on the ground floor we plan to open a Community Café with a training kitchen that can be utilised by people accessing our services as well as the general public providing a destination place for events, music and pop-up sessions.
We plan to collaborate and work with many local creative individuals and groups in order to provide a great and useful community resource. We look forward to developing new relationships with others and enhancing opportunities as we plan this exciting project.
We are planning to hold several community consultation sessions throughout the year, at the Bagnall and online, where we will engage local people in a discussion about our ideas and plans, and hear from others about how we can develop our project so that it meets the needs of the local community. These consultations will help us with the planning application and support our capital fundraising efforts.
