THE PEOPLE’S PANTRY – Boston Way Community Centre Pantry & Community Space
Commissioned by LeftCoast
Starting in July 2023, the build for The People’s Pantry at Boston Way Community Centre in Blackpool commenced! We finished the space in September, and now it provides a multi-functional space to grow, socialise, prepare and store produce which is grown in the garden
The build was assisted by volunteering local residents and the LeftCoast team and consisted of 12 open days of construction, painting and installation. These sessions saw the volunteers learn new skills and techniques in upcycling, building, carpentry and repurposing unwanted furniture and materials into new bespoke units for the pantry space.
Starting with preliminary meetings about the potential of the space and the intentions of the project, the design took on a very homely yet functional appearance from the very beginning.
Focussing on how we could reuse donated and found pieces of furniture, I kept the design of the space fluid so that we could be flexible when presented with a new piece of furniture that might not have been planned!
The initial design was mocked up in SketchUp and presented as a series of stills and an animation which panned around the space.
This became the inspiration that would guide the build and help volunteers and residents to see the bigger picture and intentions of the project outcome.
The following pictures document the progress during the build of the pantry space with the brilliant help of local residents volunteering their time and efforts to finish the space!
Emma Denby 
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