Oakridge West Community Centre
Work to make over £1 million of improvements at Oakridge West Community Centre is underway. The community building in Upton Crescent is undergoing a major refurbishment to create a modern facility that’s sustainable and can be accessed and enjoyed by the whole community.
Improvements will include providing a more open and welcoming entrance lobby. The two halls will be remodelled to ensure they work best for all manner of community activities, and there will be upgrades to the electrical and heating systems including introducing solar panels, heat pumps and LED lighting.
Work is expected to continue until late summer 2026. We’ll keep this page updated with progress on the project.
Work is continuing to progress well on site and this week a key project milestone was achieved. Hall 1, the larger of the two halls, has been handed back to the community association to allow the community centre to operate in a limited form until the new central link and hall 2 are full completed.
In the meantime, the roof deck to the central link structure has been completed with coverings being applied. New window and door units have also been installed to most elevations. The central link structure in its current form already shows the potential in terms of the open and welcoming space it is designed to be for new and existing customers of the community centre. The overall completion date for the full building is still due for late Summer 2026 but this is subject to any unforeseen issues and is weather dependant.
Photos of the outside of the hall, the entrance lobby and the two halls.
Images showing the start of the refurbishment work at the community centre.
Photos of the halls and central link
The contractor is seeking to minimise disruption for the local community wherever possible, however residents could experience increased noise levels at certain times, temporary restricted access to specific areas, and the presence of contractors and construction vehicles. We apologise for any inconvenience and disruption that may be caused during the works.
An artist’s impression of how the outside of the hall could look is below.
Artist's impression (opens in a new window)
Find out more about Oakridge West Community Centre on their website.
Solar panels for our community centres
As part of our pledge to power more of the buildings we own with renewable energy to improve air quality and cut carbon to tackle the climate emergency, we have now completed installation of solar panels on 12 of our community centres.
Brand new solar panels have been installed on:
- Bishops Green Village Hall
- Beggarwood
- Rooksdown
- Hatch Warren
- Tadley – The Link
- Rucstall community centre
- Roger Morris community centre
- The Irish Centre and Fairfields Hall
- Oakridge Hall for All
- Old Down Hall
- Hill Rise Hall and
- the Sycamore Hall
These solar panels are now generating clean, zero-emission electricity that will bring down local emissions by thousands of kilograms every year as well as saving thousands of pounds on energy bills.
In just the first few months since they've been installed, these solar panels have already saved over 16 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (equivalent to the average annual mileage of 12 cars) and reduced the community centres' energy bills by a combined total of over £11,600, which could now instead help to pay for activities, events and services for local people.
