The doors are closed. The build begins.
Today we lock the doors at Lindley for six months. Here's what happens between now and November and where to pray and learn in the meantime.
The doors at Lindley closed this morning. For the next 184 days the building will be a construction site – scaffold rising on the roof by next week, internal walls coming down in early June. When we open them again in November, the centre on Lindley Avenue will be a different building. Bigger prayer hall, new wudhu areas, a proper stair core, step-free access. The bones of the place will be the same — the way it serves us will change.
“For the next 184 days this won't be a building you can pray in. It will be a building we are rebuilding and that's a different kind of sacred work.”
— The Eden Foundation
What happens next
Phase 1 covers the roof and the prayer hall – two months of work, May through July. The contractor takes possession this week, scaffolds the perimeter, and starts on the roof refelt and structural reinforcement. Inside, the existing partition walls come down. New steel supports go in. By the end of July the prayer hall should be a single, open, light-filled space – opened up to a feature skylight that didn't exist a month earlier.
Where to pray during the closure
Five-times salah, Jumu'ah, the weekend Maktab and Al Ihsan all move to Highfields Centre – 2 Highfields Road, HD1 5NG. Five minutes drive from Lindley. Same imams, same programmes, same jamaat.
- Daily salah and Jumu'ah → Highfields Centre.
- Weekend Maktab → Highfields, Saturday & Sunday 9:00–12:00.
- Al Ihsan (adult Islamic education, 16+) → Highfields — Urdu, Punjabi, Arabic, English.
If you turn up at Lindley by habit and find the doors locked over the next six months – that's why. We hope to see you at Highfields.
Where we are on the appeal
As of today the public appeal sits at £110,000 of a £150,000 first-stage target. The full build comes in at £350,000. Every pound past £150k goes directly into the next phase of the build. Anything past £350k seeds a maintenance endowment so the centre can be looked after year on year, without another campaign at this scale.
What this section is for
This is the first of what will be roughly weekly dispatches from site as the renovation progresses. Short updates from the project lead and the imams – posting from the build itself. Photos when we have them, decisions when they matter, and the occasional behind-the-scenes when something interesting happens on site.
For now: the doors are closed. The work begins. Du'a, please, for everyone working on it – and we'll see you on the other side, in November.