Welcome to Pigeon Palace
We’re considering the future of this building on East Topping Street which is connected to our space and affectionately known as Pigeon Palace.
It’s been empty for over 20 years and now work is underway to replace the windows, repair the roof and tidy up the building façade.
It’s a huge undertaking, but we really need more accessible space for community activity. We’re planning to work with an architect to explore all the possibilities and will be holding some informal chat sessions to find out what you would like to see in the space.
But first, it’s time for the pigeons to move to a new home and to get the professionals in to remove 20 years of poop! They’re coming in next week (in full Hazmat) gear to start the work which will allow us to safely scope the available space and start planning.
At the back of our space, we have a big double garage with 2 floors. It’s connected to our main space by a 1st floor bridge.
It’s been derelict since 2003 and is affectionately known as Pigeon Palace.
What’s this space then?
The building (Rear 28 Topping St) has been empty for over 20 years. It used to be the storeroom for the fireplace and textiles shop that previously occupied our main building. You might remember it from the St John’s Market days when you could buy bedding and curtains from the big garage doors.
The building is connected to us by a ‘bridge’ at first floor level. Last month, we knocked through the sealed off bridge to start inspection work – and were greeted by some surprised pigeons who were chilling out in the upstairs space.
What’s the plan?
We need more varied and accessible activity space. The idea is to have
- A flexible, informal, more intimate, café style ground floor space with level access. This will work well for group activities such as book club, board games and community meetings.
- A comfortable purpose-built space on the 1st floor for film screenings and talks. This area is easily blacked-out
Phase 1 – make the building secure, safe and dry
- Guano removal – we call it pigeon palace for a reason! Pigeon poo is highly toxic. Breathing dust or water droplets containing contaminated bird droppings can lead to several diseases including psittacosis – a rare infectious disease causing pneumonia, and salmonella – extreme diarrhoea? No thank you!
- Roof repairs
- New doors and windows
- Resurfacing/rendering the building facade
Phase 2 – Designing the interior layout
Once phase 1 is complete, we’ll have a better idea of the space available and a greater understanding of the practicalities, e.g. location of utilities, light levels etc.
At this point we’ll be calling out to our groups, volunteers, facilitators and folks who come to our activities to find out how you’d like to use the space.
Leave a Reply