A CEREMONY to bless the first brick marked the start of construction work on a new lottery-funded community centre on Saturday last week.

The Sangat Centre in Sancroft Road, Harrow, was awarded £270,858 in June by the Millennium Commission, which will cover half of the costs of an ambitious scheme to provide a cultural and resource centre.

Hundreds of volunteers from the Asian community joined forces to raise the rest of the money to replace their old building with a new facility ready for occupation in May next year.

Spokesman Kanti Nagda said the new centre will expand on the organisation's existing work. "While it continues to offer services like free welfare and immigration advice, it will also offer training and research facilities, a media room housing the history of Asians in Harrow, an activity hall and IT room," he said.

There are approximately 227,471 Asians living in north west London, 55,825 of that total in Harrow and 67,197 in Brent.