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Refurbishment Project

 

 

 Date

Progress / Action 

21/02/2022 Three members of the team, Colin Painter, Jill Upton and Paul Rogers, visited St Joseph's Church Hall in Harrow. This hall was completed back in 2019, built by Homelodge Ltd. who are the sister company of Kingswell Builders Ltd. This was a pre-fabricated building, a similar size to our existing hall with air source heating, all LED lighting, fully fitted kitchen and the outside was covered with a wood effect plastic cladding. A full report on our findings / views can be viewed here.    
02/02/2022 A meeting of the working group took place in the Village Hall to discuss recent developments and to plan the way forward. Click here to view the minutes of the meeting.
12/01/2022 A meeting of the working group scheduled. Deferred till 02/02/22
10/11/2021 A meeting of the Working Group was held in the Village Hall to discuss recent visits and meetings and to plot the way forward. Click here to view the minutes of the meeting.
05/11/2021 Members of the working group took part in a 'TEAMS' meeting with Celia, the chairperson of the Ousden Village Hall renewal project. It was agreed that we would stay in touch with each other to share information and experiences. Also to try not to engage in any activities that would put us in competition with each other. 
23/10/2021 Members of the working group visited Dalham Village Hall. This hall was a new build in 2010 so was interesting to discover what the durability of the fabric was like and to understand what usage was like after the upgrade.
06/10/2021 The Working Group met in the Village Hall to discuss the feedback from the public meeting and to discuss the way forward. A number of action points were agreed which will be progressed accordingly. Click here to view the minutes of the meeting.
16/09/2021 A public meeting was held in the village hall and a presentation was given on progress to date. Some of the possible options were on display and feedback obtained from those in attendance.
12/08/2021 The Working Group met in the Village Hall to review where we were as no meetings had taken place since July 2020 due to COVID-19. The plans produced by the architect and those from Kingswell Buildings Ltd were discussed and decided that we now need input from the village before moving forward. The minutes of the meeting can be viewed by clicking here. An open meeting to present our findings to the village is planned for 16th September 2021 in the Village Hall.
13/07/2020 The Working Group met in the Village Hall and discussed the possible options that are now available. Click here to view the minutes of the meeting.
05/03/2020 Planned meeting for this date cancelled due to COVID-19
20/02/2020 The Working Group met in the Village Hall and discussed the action points from the last meeting and the agenda items for this meeting. A meeting has been held with two architects and another meeting arranged for 5th March.  Click here to view.
15/01/2020 Colin Painter, Chris Hartnell and Paul Rogers had a site meeting with an architect with a view to them carrying out a feasibility report on the various options open to us and the likely costs. It is hoped to have these options illustrated and displayed at the Annual Parish Meeting in May so the meeting can give a directive on which option we should follow.
01/12/2019 Update document issued giving an overview of progress and next steps. It will appear in the village magazine and here.
Click here to view.
04/11/2019 The Working Group met in the village hall and discussed the action points from the previous meeting and the agenda items for this meeting. Colin Painter has agreed to take over as chair of this group and will arrange for future meetings to be held monthly on a Thursday.
Click here for minutes.
02/11/2019 Open meeting held in Village Hall from 11am to 4pm to allow people to view our proposals and to have an input, not only to the Village Hall project but all the other Community Action projects that are underway. Approximately 25 people attended throughout the day and were able to view outline plans and ideas for the improvement of the Village Hall. There was also information on progress on other projects that are ongoing.
16/10/2019 Members of the team met with Lauren White-Miller and Ellie McCarthy from West Suffolk Council to discuss the way forward in terms of getting formal plans prepared and submitted for pre-planning before we commit to a formal submission. David Taylor confirmed that we have £1000 already earmarked for this work but more funding would be required. A ballpark figure of £300,000 - £400,000 was considered to be what we would expect the work to cost. A timescale of 18 - 24 months was estimated for possible completion. Lauren and Ellie will be able to help us find much of the funding by pointing us towards various organisations where we may obtain grants. An open meeting is being held on 2nd November 2019 in the Village Hall from 11am to 4pm to allow all Villagers to see what is proposed, not only for the Village Hall but for the other Community Actions that we are progressing. All villagers are invited to attend this meeting and to have an input to these projects. 
16/09/2019 The working group met and produced a document for publication in the Village Newsletter. This is a summary of what we are trying to achieve, what has been done to date and the next steps.
Click here to view.
22/08/2019 Members of the team visited the Village Hall at Bradfield St George to see how much progress they were making with their hall energy efficient after receiving a similar report from Jamie Murphy. They have installed a number of 'Air Source Heat Pumps' (ASHP) which appear to be working remarkably well and will get the hall up to required temperatures in 15 - 20 minutes in all weathers, it also cools the hall in hot weather. Their main hall is a bit larger than our hall and has 3 ASHPs heating this main hall. The cost of these 3 pumps was around £4,800 +VAT from Acorn Air-con and Refrigeration in Felsham. They have also gone down the line of upgrading all of their lighting to LED which is saving more money long term but is quite expensive to install. Thanks to Lynn & Christine at Bradfield St George for allowing us to view their hall and for all the useful information they were able to provide.
24/05/2019 Energy report received from Jamie Murphy.
Click here to view.
10/05/2019 An energy audit took place carried out by Jamie Murphy from Groundworks to assess the Village Hall to see what improvements can be made. The objective being to improve energy efficiency.
11/04/2019 Public meeting held to exchange views and ideas and to seek volunteers to form a working group. A working group has been set up that comprises members of the Village Hall management committee and some Parish Councillors as shown above. Items discussed at the meeting included:-
1) Carbon/energy neutral footprint.
2) Rent workspace within the hall.
3) Use as click and collect for parcels.
4) Farmers market.
5) Carry out a survey on the building to establish if it can be upgraded.
6) Flexibility in it's use.
31/01/2019 Notes from the first meeting published.
Click here to view.
28/01/2019 Some members of the Parish Council attended the Village Hall Management Committee meeting to discuss the possible ways forward with this action. It is hoped that after this, a working group can be setup to continue this action. If you would like to volunteer to be part of this working group please speak to any Parish Councillor or Village Hall Management Committee member to register your interest.
27/09/2018 Informal meeting held between the Neighbourhood Plan Working Group and the Parish Council to review the Community Actions, to prioritise and assign ownership to some of these actions. Where necessary small working groups will be setup to progress these Community Actions. Some of these actions have been considered "Business as Usual" for the Parish Council and will be progressed through normal Parish Council meetings.