The Archimedia Project for Knowle West Media Centre

'LEINSTER HOUSE was one of the first NHS community health centres ever built in the country,' says Archimedia project manager Miles Ford. 'The whole thing's falling to pieces and there's all sorts of nastiness in the ceiling.'

'I'll be first with the sledgehammer when it comes down,' says his assistant, youth media worker and resident Sandra Manson. Trustee and community health worker Cheryl Martin, also a resident, puts it more bluntly when comparing it to the estate's new healthy living centre: 'You're talking Buckingham Palace and a cesspit'.

Archimedia project manager Miles Ford: 'The whole thing's falling down and there's all sorts of nastiness in the ceiling'

The single storey building is a fright. It looks part prefab, part prison. Locating the right entrance is confusing and, for security, bars and blinds cover all the windows. Inside, these block out the light and the view. The offices are a series of cramped low-ceilinged rooms, most opening onto a single narrow corridor running the length of the building, some with multiple access to other rooms. The net effect is of a rabbit warren, albeit one humming with Apple Macs and decorated with some stunning art work. Space is at a premium. When project manager Carolyn Hassan says a colleague is 'in the toilet', she's not joking. The plumbing, however, has been removed.

Dislike for the building among all its users is palpable. An arts worker, in her evaluation of a recent project with disabled children, concluded: 'There are no words for how gruesome this building truly is. It's nobody's fault - an inheritance from the NHS. We immediately felt cramped and distraction was on all sides, in part because [the computer suite] had three entrances from all sides. The whole thing feels claustrophobic. 'She goes on to talk about how brilliant the work produced was,' says Hassan, 'but the message is, "we are working under extremely difficult circumstances".'

Teenager Michael Smith, who has Asperger's syndrome, will be documenting the building's welcome demise in his second film. 'It's going to be a horror film,' he says. 'I'm trying to make it the scariest film possible. I hope it will get an 18 certificate.' It's title? The death of Leinster House.

Rebuilding the centre

The media centre's Archimedia project was set up in 2003 to replace Leinster House with a building fit for its purpose, with local young people as advisers. Since last November, its team of two, Miles Ford and Sandra Manson, have assembled a team of nine young people from the estate, aged 11 to 16. 'The idea is to get them working with all the professionals involved,' says Ford.

The project is expected to cost £3 million. 'When we first talked about it, people said "you can do that very cheaply",' says Hassan. 'But we want something people feel they own, that they're proud of and that stands out. We want it to have an identity that is to do with this estate, that is as good as the work that is done here and brings people into the estate. We don't want something that is just "adequate".'

To date, outline funding of £750,000 has been secured but needs to be match-funded, as does £500,000 from the European funded Urban 2 programme, which is covering the cost of the Archimedia project, including paying for a fundraising consultant and the feasibility study by architects Quattro. The existing building and site have also been bought - by the Leinster House Partnership, a company set up by the media centre and Knowle West Development Trust. Despite a still substantial funding shortfall, there is no doubt in any minds that the new building will happen. 'The need for a media centre on this site is absolutely certain,' says Ford. 'We've outgrown this building.'