New Denis Hurley Centre serves the community
A new state-of-the-art Denis Hurley Centre has replaced the demolished 106-year-old parish centre in Durban.
THE heart of Warwick Junction is beating with new life in the form of the recently constructed community building, Denis Hurley Centre.
Replacing the demolished 106-year-old parish centre which sits adjacent to the Emmanuel Cathedral, the new community centre is named after the former archbishop of Durban, Denis Hurley, who actively spoke out against the atrocities of apartheid for five decades. Hurley believed a church should be a ‘community serving humanity’ and this centre will allow for his work to continue.
Originally the plan was to renovate the old parish centre, but it was so rundown that it wasn’t financially viable.
Greg Hayhoe, contracts manager for GVK Siya Zama Building Contractors, said “The building was an AMAFA heritage site but, unfortunately, very little of the existing building or materials were worth recycling because of the state of disrepair.”
However, he explained that they did manage to salvage some components of the former centre which have been incorporated into the new centre. These include handrails from the staircase, decorative cast iron air grilles and 500 bricks which have been recycled to build the counter in the café.
Whereas the old centre had three floors, the Denis Hurley Centre has four floors catering for the three social programmes which assist the sick, hungry and homeless.
The ground floor has a room for the feeding scheme where people are given a meal and can shower. This leads into the clinic where screening and first aid is administered and finally a room for the refugee programme.
The centre also houses a library, with information on the history of South Africa, a prayer room, caretaker’s apartment and a number of multipurpose rooms.
To find out more about the centre, contact admin@denishurleycentre.org
Visit: www.denishurleycentre.org
