A FORMER Bellingham pub turned into a community hub has been shortlisted for a top award.
The Green Man on Bromley Road is now the home of social landlord Phoenix Community Housing, featuring a state-of-the-art training kitchen, community café, branch of the Lewisham Plus Credit Union, market square and venue space for hire.
Designed by Black Architecture and opened in November, the building has a "sawtooth" roof, timber frame, open plan interior and sustainable features like rainwater toilet flushing systems and solar panels to generate both electricity and hot water.
Now, the building is among eight projects shortlisted in the Building Awards 2014 for small project of the year.
Phoenix’s chief executive Jim Ripley said: "For years our area has lacked a clear community focus. Pub after pub in our area has shut its doors – including the original Green Man pub - and it became a place that people would simply drive through, not come to. That’s been both the symptom and cause of the deprivation we inherited when Phoenix was created in 2007.
"The Green Man symbolises our efforts to arrest and reverse the decline. Our residents were heavily involved in both the design of the building and its facilities, and we’d like to thank them and everyone who made it possible. The Green Man is visually and architecturally distinctive, but what really distinguishes it is the positive difference it will make to thousands of people’s lives."
The Building Awards will be presented on April 2 in central London.
For more on Phoenix visit phoenixch.org.uk
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