An all-year-round shelter for homeless people has been opened in Kingston – and the founders have promised it is only the beginning.

About 150 guests visited St Peter’s Church in Norbiton on Saturday to see the unveiling of the new transitional night shelter, built inside the old church hall.

The facility offers dormitory accommodation for up to 14 people a night, and includes shower facilities, a kitchen and lounge space.

It is part of an ambitious plan to create a £2m permanent night shelter with 14 private bedrooms and a new headquarters for Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness.

Peter Holmes, vicar of St Peter’s and one of the main driving forces behind the project, said he hoped the opening of a transitional shelter would convince charitable organisations to help fund the remainder of the scheme.

He said: “We had raised about £250,000, but a lot of trusts and grant organisers wanted to see us reach £500,000 for a project of this scale before they would consider funding us.

“They seemed to be saying: ‘when are we going to see this actually get built?’

“So we thought if we couldn’t get the Rolls-Royce right now we could get something set up to start helping people straight away. For a fairly small investment we can begin the process.

“It’s a shared space but it’s a lot better than sleeping on the streets.

“With the transitional night shelter, a marker has been put down. Hopefully now businesses and charities will see we are serious – we have proof.”

Fundraiser Simon Jones, a 53-year-old operations manager for a shipping broker and member of Emmanuel Church, Tolworth, praised Mr Homes for his work in getting the shelter opened.

He said: “I wasn’t expecting it to be done to be honest. We thought it was a long way to go to get £2m.

“I think we have got about £230,000 and they have got on with it.”

The celebrations continued this week when staff from John Lewis Kingston served up a Christmas meal for 40 homeless people, to mark both the start of the festive season and the opening of the shelter.