Nottingham, UK—A Gurdwara has received almost £50,000 to help restore the building to its former glory and make it more accessible to the community.
The Guru Teg Bahadur Gurdwara, in Church Street, has secured the £49,850 grant from WREN, which funds projects through the Landfill Communities Fund.
The money will be used to restore the interior of the grade-two listed building, including unveiling a major feature – a double-hammerbeam roof that is currently hidden beneath a suspended ceiling.
The money will also be spent on creating new floors, a lift and disabled toilets, and to start work on a new community kitchen area.
Narinder Singh, who is coordinating the project, said he hoped the improvements would encourage more people to use the temple.
“When the beams are exposed, it is going to be amazing,” he said. “It will be open seven days a week for the whole community and people will be able to use the facilities for meetings and classes.”
He added: “The building is in a really bad state inside. When we have the lift and the disabled toilets it will be a lot more accessible for the community.”
Work will start in the next five weeks, and it is hoped it will be completed by the end of the year.
It is part of a £1.5 million project to restore the building—formerly the Lenton Church School—to its former glory.
The old school dates back to 1841 and was designed by Henry Isaac Stevens, a Derby architect who also designed the Holy Trinity Church opposite the building.
The first phase of the project was completed last year and included the external restoration of the building, with the help of a £171,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Mr Singh said: “Going back five or six years, we realised a lot of work needed doing. All of the external works have been completed and the outside looks fantastic now.”
The temple has around 2,000 members from across Nottingham, who have also been fundraising and donating money to the project.
President of the temple, Gurmeet Singh Taak, said: “This work is vital to ensure that the building has a viable future and the grant from WREN is a huge boost.”
Cheryl Raynor, WREN grant manager for Notts, said they had been particularly impressed by the temple’s consultation with the community and the number of groups who will be able to use the facilities, regardless of their faith.
She added: “This is an exciting project and will make such a difference to the community in Lenton.”
