Christchurch's Phillipstown community officially opened its latest addition recently, a SheShed with all the bells and whistles.
The Phillipstown Hub won the kitset wooden cabin in a competition for community organisations last year, which was run by Australasian company SheShed.
Equipped with solar power and hot water, the versatile building has been transformed into a help-yourself cafeteria open to all.
Phillipstown Community Hub manager Vivianna Zanetti says it was a great opportunity for the organisations based at the Hub and their whanau to reconnect after difficult times.
Phillipstown and Woolston Schools merged in 2014, leaving the future of the vacant Phillipstown School site uncertain.
In early 2015 the Phillipstown Community Centre Charitable Trust signed an agreement with the Ministry of Education to manage the former school site and turn it into a community space. It is now home to a number of community organisations that offer a wide range of activities, services and programmes to local residents.
Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board chair Alexandra Davids says the SheShed is a great asset to the community.
"The Hub does so much work in the community with so many different organizations and this building is just another addition to the amazing work that they are doing".
The Phillipstown Community Centre Charitable Trust recently signed an agreement allowing an extension of their lease through to June 2023.
- By Geoff Sloan
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
