It has taken a little longer than anticipated but Dame Vivien Duffield's ambitious plans for a Jewish Community Centre in London, first mooted in October 2003, are finally taking physical shape. The old Mercedes showroom in north-west London's Finchley Road has been razed and construction is likely to begin in late summer or early September.

The new building, which will include conference and lecture theatre facilities, a nursery school, and a kosher cafe, is also set to house what the JCC team believe will be Europe's biggest Shabbat lift.

Hoardings will go up around the site later in the year, bearing the message: "A new Jewish Community Centre for London".