Proposed Design and Costs
The information on our previous update note in August no doubt caused many people a sharp intake of breath. Nearly £1m to redevelop the church hall does seem to be a large amount of money!
Our approach has been to look at developing a total solution to make the hall more multifunctional, bring it up to date and continue to be a focal point for the community in this area. At this stage it does not mean that we will definitely spend £1m on the scheme. What we have is an optimum scheme that we have worked hard to develop but we now need to look at the reality of being able to raise this amount of money. The estimate of costs provided to us by the Quantity Surveyor are, he tells us, on the generous side. However, they are based on August 2016 rates, so if the reconstruction work doesn’t start until 2018, costs are likely to rise further. The true costs of the chosen scheme will not be known until the work is put out to tender.
The design plan and supporting information is on the hall notice board and also elsewhere on this website.
Fundraising
In the last few weeks we have contacted a number of professional fundraisers to enquire about the services they offer and the rates that they charge. After discussing the options with the Parochial Church Council (PCC), the council instructed the Hall Redevelopment Team that at this stage only a viability study should be undertaken and costs should be kept to a minimum. The fundraiser that we have chosen has come with excellent references, one being from Canon Michael Hunter who worked with him when he was at Grimsby Minster.