This was the scene in Henleaze yesterday as a community hall was demolished ready for building work to start on a new one.

The 1950s Waterford Hall on Waterford Road has been knocked down to make way for an eco-friendly replacement.

Fundraising group Henleaze@Heart, led by the Trinity-Henleaze United Reformed Church, have raised nearly £1.1 million in the past three years to fund the work.

Funding co-ordinator Monica Rudston said: "It is a great relief to get started – we have had quite a wait to get to this stage. It is lovely to see all our fundraising come to fruition. Lots of people have been stopping to see what is going on, it really is a community event. Now we hope that things will get going – it's wonderful to make this progress."

The building of the new hall, which will be called Bradbury Hall after a £250,000 donation from the international Bradbury Foundation, is expected to take about 40 weeks.

The old hall was cold and damp and had no insulation, and Bradbury Hall has been designed to be as eco-friendly as possible, with a large number of skylights to make the most of natural light and reduce the need for electric lighting, solar panels to generate electricity and rainwater collection systems to be used for flushing toilets. There will also be better access for wheelchairs and pushchairs.

The money has been raised with grants and contributions from local fundraisers, as well as a sum of money from the sale of Trinity Church in 2002 when it was merged with Henleaze Church.