For generations, the old Coats Patons woollen mill was part of the industrial heartbeat of Launceston.
Built in the 1920s, the Glen Dhu Street factory became one of the city’s major places of work. At its peak, the mill employed more than 2,100 people and formed part of an international textile business operating across 17 countries. But by 1997, the doors had closed. What had once been a thriving centre of activity was left empty.
For many, the story might have ended there.
But Door of Hope Christian Church saw something different.
In 2001, the church purchased the former mill site and began the careful work of transforming a vast, ageing industrial building into a place of worship, welcome and community connection. After site contamination surveys, decontamination works and major redevelopment, the church relocated from its former Frederick Street site and held its first service in the new building in November 2003.
It was a bold move of faith, not simply to occupy an old building, but to reimagine it.
“What drew the church to this site was the opportunity to create something much bigger than a Sunday meeting place,” says Troy Roberts, Chief Operations Officer at Door of Hope. “The vision was always to see this former industrial site become a place of life, service and practical hope for the city.”
Today, Door of Hope is far more than a church gathering. The 40,000-square-metre site now houses a broad ecosystem of ministries, services, community spaces and social enterprises. Alongside church services and ministry activities, the complex includes café and lounge spaces, childcare and outside school hours care, allied health services, conference facilities, storage, community organisations, small businesses and charitable initiatives.
One of those initiatives is Mad Wheels, a social enterprise that repairs donated cars and passes them on to people in need. The program also trains and supports young people in mechanical and practical skills, creating a powerful win-win: vehicles are restored for families who need them, while young people are given the chance to build confidence, capability and purpose.
“It is easy to think of Door of Hope as one building, but really it is a home for many different expressions of mission and community care,” Troy says. “Every week, people come through the doors for worship, childcare, training, support, business, counselling, food, friendship and practical help. The site now accommodates an average of 45,000 people through its doors each month.”
But sustaining a site of this scale also requires significant stewardship.
The former woollen mill was never a small building, and its size is part of both its opportunity and its responsibility. With 40,000 square metres under roof, Door of Hope has had to progressively redevelop, maintain and upgrade the property as ministry and community needs have grown.
One of the most significant chapters in that journey was the roof replacement and fire services upgrade, the largest construction project ever undertaken by the church, and one of the biggest roof replacement projects in Australia.
The scale of the project was enormous.
More than 500 tonnes of asbestos cement sheeting was removed from the roof across a two-year project covering approximately 21,000 square metres. A team of roofers and asbestos removal specialists worked across the site, carefully removing, wrapping and disposing of the old roof before the building was re-roofed with galvanised iron. The process also included the replacement of box gutters.
The work also included a major fire safety upgrade, with new sprinkler heads, upgraded sprinkler systems, smoke detection throughout the site and improvements designed to bring the building closer to modern safety standards.
“It was an enormous undertaking,” Troy says. “This was not simply a matter of replacing sheets of roofing. It involved asbestos removal, fire services, sprinkler upgrades, smoke detection and a huge amount of coordination across a live community site.”
For Door of Hope, this was never just a building maintenance issue.
The ageing roof had created practical limitations across the property. Leaks affected storage areas, tenants and community spaces, and the scale of the site meant any major infrastructure issue had the potential to impact many different ministries and organisations.
“When you have a building of this size, the roof is not just a roof,” Troy says. “It protects the people, programs and partnerships that operate beneath it. If we wanted this site to continue serving the community well, we had to invest in the infrastructure that made that possible.”
It is not the kind of project that always attracts attention.
There is no ribbon-cutting moment for a sprinkler head. No spotlight for new guttering. No easy photo opportunity in the removal of asbestos roofing.
But this is exactly the kind of unseen work that makes visible ministry possible.
That is where Christian Finance’s support became part of a much bigger story.
The finance provided for the reroofing and fire services upgrade was not simply about funding a construction project. It was about supporting the long-term mission of a church that has spent more than two decades turning a heritage-listed former industrial site into a place of practical hope for Launceston.
“Christian Finance understood that this project was about more than bricks, roofing and compliance,” Troy says. “It was about stewarding a facility that enables ministry, community care and local partnerships every day of the week.”
Door of Hope’s story is one of faith expressed through place. A former mill has become a community hub. A site once known for production has become a place of service. And a building that could have been left behind has been renewed as a home for worship, care, enterprise and hope.
The roof replacement and fire services upgrade is another chapter in that story.
But beneath that roof, the visible work of mission continues, through a repaired car, a childcare place, a young person learning a trade skill, a family receiving support, or a person finding community.
As Troy reflects, “Our hope is that this building continues to serve Launceston for generations to come. The roof project helps make that possible.”
Christian Finance is proud to have supported Door of Hope in strengthening the infrastructure that protects and enables its mission, helping ensure this remarkable place of community life can continue offering hope well into the future.