Highams Park Community CIC has entered into a 50 year lease with Network Rail for the Signal Box.
We are very grateful to have been given this opportunity by Network Rail and our goals for taking on the Signal Box are twofold: firstly, to preserve the building as an iconic feature of Highams Park town centre; and secondly, to provide a small affordable hub for community activities.
Due to operational constraints, it is not possible for the building to be used as a café but we have permission to hire the space out for a wide range of community uses, such as: offices, meeting space, exhibition space, a community hub or any reasonable ancillary use or event that promotes local engagement, creativity, wellbeing or enterprise. This may include (without limitation) administrative functions for community organisations, meetings and gatherings, exhibitions and displays, hobby and interest group sessions, seasonal and cultural events, participation in public programmes such as Open House and occasional fundraising or business pop-ups.
The building has been unoccupied for nearly seven years now and is in poor condition both internally and externally, so it will take us a while to return it to a usable condition but we’ll let you know when it is ready for use.