LATEST NEWS - 19th February
2010
In spite of the continuing bad weather the
Village Hall project is progressing well. The main hall area will be
handed back to village hall users from 1st April with the entire project
now expected to complete in early May- which will enable the Hall to be
used as a Polling Station if Mr. Brown calls the election for 6th May!
The Project Team are making small adjustments to the specification as the
job progresses and as funds allow to make sure that we have the best
possible result on completion. For instance, more internal doors are to be
renewed to improve the appearance, the original gutters are now to be
overhauled to cut maintenance in the future and we have just instructed a
re-furbishment of the main hall floor.
The
new Committee rooms are to be named the St.Stephens Room, the Beacon Room
and the Norton Room respectively and will provide some great new space for
user groups more of which will be able to occupy simultaneously. Please
contact the Village Hall Management Committee for booking information.
The
architect is preparing a "Donor Board" which will be displayed in the new
entrance hall showing the names of the groups who provided grant funding
including the National Lottery, Essex County Council, Maldon District
Council, Garfield Weston, Exxon Mobil plus the names of all those people
who bought bricks. In addition, the Village Hall Management Committee
provided over £24,000 from fund raising over the past few years whilst the
Parish Council has committed £20,000 to the project.
Paul Guppy, Chris Edwards and Philip Wakeling carried out a site
inspection on Friday 19th February and were pleased to see the finished
product begining to emerge. The newly plastered and decorated main hall
looks much lighter, helped by the new windows and doors. Also the old,
noisy heaters have gone to be replaced by new, much quieter and more
efficient units powered by a new condensing boiler. The new wcs located
off the hall mainly for the use of pre-school are now effectively complete
and are looking good. They will enable pre-school to be self-contained in
the hall whilst other events occur elsewhere. The new committee rooms are
now almost roofed in and will complete after the main hall is back in use
in April.
The
project has been featured latterly in the Essex Chronicle and will shortly
appear in an article in "The Oyster", the magazine of the Rural Community
Council of Essex who provided much useful advise in the early days of
grant applications.
Philip Wakeling
____________________________________________
15th January
2010
The project is proceeding positvely and
from a site inspection after Christmas we had the first impression of what
the new hall will look like with walls and ceilings re-plastered, new,
more efficient and quiter heating and new lighting. That's the good news!
The not so good news is that due to a combination of a hitch with the hall
ceiling, since resolved, and the weather the programme has slipped. We now
expect the Hall to re-open at the end of April.
The main hall area will be complete in February however due to access
difficulties and lack of car parking it was decided at a meeting of the
Village Hall Management Committee to wait until final completion before
re-occupying.
Financially the project remains on track with the Lottery now having made
three substantial payments towards the construction cost and our other
donor's funds also now being tapped. Our thanks to all the groups and
individuals who have contributed. Their names will be noted on a plaque to
be placed inside the new entrance area, which on cost grounds replaces the
buy a brick scheme.
The Village Hall Management Committee has decided to hold most hring rates
at the old rates which users were used to paying and are now
enthusiastically looking for additional occupiers. If you run a group
looking for a regular venue offering great facilities or wish to start up
a new group or club in the Village please contact the Village Hall
Management Committee.
Philip Wakeling
____________________________________________
8th December
2009
The project to extend and refurbish the
Village Hall unfortunately hit problems almost from the off as when
excavating the footings for the new meeting and reception areas the
contractor found asbestos. We think that the material found probably arose
from the demolition of the original village hall and, given the current
regulations, the material had to be analysed and eventuallly removed with
a large quantity of contaminated spoil to a safe disposal location.
Inevitabley this cost a lot of money however both our own Project Team and
the Lottery having re-run the figures are of the view that the project
remains viable.
One consequence of the early loss of the
project contingency sum is that some additional works to which we have not
yet committed, including the construction of an outdoor children's play
area for pre-school children and the making up of the road in the vicinity
of the Village Hall may not now proceed. Decisions will be taken in the
new year subject to funding.
The good news is, however, that although
the project is now two weeks behind largely because of the effects of
dealing with asbestos removal, the Village Hall Management Committee
expect to take possession of the Main Hall from the contractor on 15th
January. A number of user groups are very keen to resume activities again
in Cold Norton after a few months away and the VHMC are also now
considering how to expand the use of the Hall and make full use of the new
and improved facilities following final completion in April.
The Village Hall Project Group wish to
acknowledge and thank all those who have contributed financially to the
project to date including the Big Lottery, Garfield Weston, Essex County
Council, Maldon District Council, Cold Norton Parish Council, the Village
Hall Management Committe and of course many members of the public. We plan
to install a plaque recognising finacial contributions to the project but
wish to point out that the cost of installing personalised bricks is
likely to more or less use the proceeds of "buying a brick". This seems
counter-productive and we are considering some other form of
acknowledgement. We trust this is in order but if you have any concerns
please make contact using the 'Contact' button above left.
Philip Wakeling
____________________________________________
30th November 2009
The Parish Council approved the Project and it's contribution by way of a
£20,000 loan from the Public Works Board. This was subject to Lottery and VAT
approval. We are delighted to announce that the Big Lottery Fund have now given their approval, having reviewed the
proposed scheme, the tender report and the Parish Council's matched
funding proposals.
Tenders were received from a number of potential
suppliers and the contract for the work has now been awarded to
Haynes and
Smith.
-
As at
the end of October, the project is delayed by about 4 days. At this
stage this is not material. The first phase including the completion of
the works to the main hall will complete in January with final
completion due in April
-
Asbestos has been found in some quantity in the excavations around the
VH. This is having to be shipped away to a suitable site for disposal
hence the contingency is effectively gone. As a result we don't have any
alternative at this stage but to put the outside play area and making up
of the road on hold. We will review further as the project progresses
- The pre-school group
are considering external funding to make the outside play area feasible
- The VH Management
Committee are considering the Lottery milestones to improve access and
use of the hall to all groups following completion
- Views are being sought
re: placing a time capsule under the new extension
For a view of what the finished development
will look like please click on the picture below:
