We've Moved! Upbeat Communities Has A New Home

We’ve moved to a new building!

It was time to move. Having welcomed the same number of people in the first 6 months of 2025 as we did in the whole of 2024, we knew we needed more space. Now, we’re delighted to share that Upbeat Communities has a new home! Our Integration Manager, Elliot, shares his thoughts on the new opportunities this space will offer.

“It’s Thursday. I have a walkie talkie! I'm next to glass doors that have recently been covered with the colourful Upbeat Communities logo. I am at the bottom of the stairs waiting to welcome participants to our new building. The first volunteer has just arrived and preparations are underway for Women's English and a creative session in Upbeat Women, our weekly support group for refugee women.

While we moved, activities were put on hold so we could settle in. Last week we ran assessments for the new classes and yesterday saw our first three ESOL lessons take place. After what seems like forever — it was great to restart activities once again.

Although only a few minutes away from our previous venue, we are now more central and easier to access for refugees and asylum seekers who live in hotels and temporary accommodation near the city centre. The numerous office spaces enables all the team members to have a space to work from, instead of having to sit with a laptop on the stairs, or hold a meeting with a participant from inside the Welcome Box supplies cupboard. A real bonus is being able to open the windows - in our old venue we didn't have such a luxury!

The building (near the Derbion) covers two floors, offering an amazing space from which English classes, support sessions, and 1-to-1 appointments can happen. Having more meeting space also means we will have greater capacity to support participants — our first training to enable volunteers to support participants is running on Monday.

Having exclusive use of the building will enable us to offer more activities. In the current climate, it is more important than ever that we can offer a safe, welcoming space. We are exploring how we can make more use of our building each week. Recent thoughts have been around art, more activities for women and more conversation clubs.

We are excited about all the opportunities that this new venue will offer. However, a new place is only part of the story. Without such wonderful supporters and hard working volunteers it would mean very little. Thank you for your support as we restart, trial new systems, pilot new activities and welcome many more wonderful, inspirational people to this city.”

We are excited to welcome our volunteers, partners, enterprise clients, and key supporters to the building in the coming months. If that’s you, keep an eye out for an invitation from us—we can’t wait to show you around our new home!

This is one of two really exciting pieces of news from us. We’re also welcoming our new CEO, Jonathan Lee, to the team very soon. You can keep up-to-date with all our family news by signing up to our mailing list below. 👇