Turning a building into a shelter
West London Initiative on Single Homelessness

Finding someone to lend us a suitable building is one of the hardest tasks we have to undertake when planning the Christmas Roof. The search has started and we can do with as much help as possible.
 

	The building is usually a disused warehouse, but we have even previously used a church and an old police station! Our requirements are basic, we need an empty building of 8-25,000 sq ft (preferably 10-12,000) in West London that will be available from early December to mid-January. People often think that a building is in too poor a state of repair for us to use but although some buildings require more work than others, our team of professional carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other workers who will do all other works necessary to make an initially uninviting building into a comfortable shelter for over 100 homeless people over the Christmas period. We will make the building secure which may require the windows to be boarded up temporarily and will fix broken or replace non-existent doors.
As well as cleaning the building, we can overhaul the heating. We arrange for the electricity, gas and phones to be reconnected and  install showers and toilets.             We will find a suitable area to fit out a kitchen in.			Some parts of the building may have to have smaller temporary rooms built in them to provide areas for services such first aid, dentistry, clothing and luggage stores.
	Volunteers will help give particularly dull parts of the building a lick of paint and we will even lay carpet!
We will return the buidling to its owner(s) in early January in a condition as good as, or better, than we received it.

The 2000 Roof was held at
the Wilson & Kyle building,
81/87 High Street,
Brentford,
Middlesex.
The building was kindly lent to us by STRATAL LTD care of Jansons & Partners.