History
The Megacentre arrived on the Sheffield scene at the start of 1998.
Before this time the building had been empty for some time and had previously been owned by Neill Tools plc as a manufacturing location for Spear & Jackson.
In 1998 the building was bought by Hope City Church, the creators of The Megacentre. The church had been established in 1991 and this was the first permanent base for the church having met in eight other temporary locations since its inception.
In aquiring the Megacentre the church was able to move forward with a vision to provide support, assistance and needed services to the area in the form of social action and social enterprise.
The funding to purchase The Megacentre came from a combination of bank loans and the generous donations of the members of the church. Phase 1 of the building process which included reception, Megakidz (0-5's) and the church administration offices was completed in early 1998.
The next phase of development took place in 2000/2001 when the first stage of the lower ground floor was developed. This area was converted from an empty factory with a huge 50 Tonne crane to what we have today which is a reception area, Concert Hall and The Underground, collectively seating almost 1000 people. Once again the financing for this project came from a combination of individual church member donations and bank financing.
Shortly after this development, Megakidz was extended to cover ages up to 10 years, in part thanks to £35,000 of funding from local grant making trusts, including JG Graves and Sheffield Town Trust.
Work then started on much of the top floor of the building which was gradually converted into a combination of meeting rooms and offices.
In 2003 we were successful in winning Lottery funds through the New Opportunities Fund to enable us to set up Meganursery. The nursery was set up under the government's Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative (NNI), a three year programme designed to increase childcare provision in the area. This, together with a donation from Dixons plc enabled us to build Meganursery from an empty space into a 57 full time space nursery. In order to create outdoor play for the children we had part of the roof of the building removed and a roof garden created. This still remains an innovative feature of The Megacentre to date and is loved by our nursery children.
In 2005 we added two new fire exit staircases to The Megacentre in order to facilitate the further expansion of our services. This project cost of £220,000 was in part supported by VEOLIA (Onyx Environmental) Trust who generously donated almost £50,000 towards this project.
Throughout the whole of the development of the building we have continued to expand in both our scope of projects and the numbers of employees and volunteers we have working at the centre throughout the week.
In September 2007 the Liverpool congregation of Hope City Church aquired the struggling Elaine Norris Sports Centre as its permanent place of home and rebranded the centre as The Megacentre. Already a grat deal of work has been done to add fresh life to this centre which sits in the heart of a city centre community.
In 2001 we employed just 13 people over one location. In 2008 we now employ almost 70 staff over 2 locations and have the support of approximately 30 volunteers in addition to this in the following areas:
Youth work, childrens work, working with non-English speakers, providing emergency food-aid for people in need, working with the elderly, young women with life controlling issues, serving the corporate and business world and sports and leisure.
Our programmes aim to raise personal aspiration and attainment and bring people to a position where they can contribute fully as members of the community.
The story continues...