MINUTES OF HULLAVINGTON NEW VILLAGE HALL PROJECT GROUP MEETING
PRESENT: Dave Hunt, Bob Fenner, John Greenwood, Julian Greenman, Vic Rawlins, Peter Parry-Williams, Joan Shaw, Jebbie Hewitt, Ron Bye, Willaim Harmer, Paul Hadley, Michael Gossage, Simon Durrant, Nick Hathaway, Clive Chamberlain, Sue Fenner, John Metters, Maggie Bawden, Brenda Saunders, Victoria Castle, Anne Durrant.
1. New Village Hall Project Business
1.1. Apologies: Graham Stokes
1.2. Minutes of the last meeting held on 24th August were corrected and agreed.
1.3. Matters arising – there were none
1.4. Letter from Fielder and Jones – Bob has received a letter with an offer of a green field site for the new hall from the Butlers, nearly 2 months after it was received by the Parish Council. The letter would probably not have made a difference to the decision to build on the present site, but we should have been informed of the letter earlier. None present at the meeting wished to reconsider the possibility of using this green field site.
1.5. Loan from the Public Works Board – At the PC meeting on the 8th September the principal of obtaining a loan was unanimously agreed. At the meeting in November exact sums need to be presented.
1.6. Visits to other village halls – Graham Stokes has visited Dedworth and Windsor village halls.
1.7. Grant applications – Bob reported that we have withdrawn from the Village Halls Grant awards as the deadlines could not be met.
1.8. Responses to Gossage documents – separate secure children’s toilets are only necessary when the building is used simultaneously by other groups. With shared toilets children need to be escorted.
1.9. Pre-constructed/volumetric buildings - Peter reported that after speaking with a number of providers a layout has been agreed on after several adaptations. The large and small halls can be used independently and the kitchen accessed by both. There is a separate storage space for pre-school and another storage room available. There is a disabled toilet. This drawing can now be used to get detailed quotes. There will be a 22.5 degree pitched, clay tiled roof with a height of 3.1m at the eaves, rising to 3.3m. Stone cladding is an option. The group have considered both statutory requirements and the requirements of the users in the village. There will be an acoustic partition separating the two halls. The hall door is lockable from the inside to ensure security for pre-school. One supplier is able to reduce the height of the building so that the ramps will be smaller. At the stage end it would be possible to have a sliding partition so that the space behind can be used for easy accessible storage with perhaps a fold down stage when required. The windows would start 1m from the floor to maximise natural lighting. Changes to the original plans have been made using recommendations made by Jenny Gossage.
· Mike– need 20 car parking spaces per 100 people for the Entertainments Licence.
· John Metters thinks there may be queuing problems accessing the hatch from the corridor. Julian suggested extending the sliding acoustic door to open up the area.
· Paul suggested that a front porch would be nice.
· Nick suggested a bike/buggy shed to encourage more people to cycle and walk rather than drive. Mike thought that this would be seen positively by planners as a ‘green’ option and may help to get around the problem of lack of parking spaces.
Traditional build presentation by Mike - Mike thought that it was more beneficial to put forward a more ambitious building than the pre-constructed group. He put forward proposals for a hall large enough for playing badminton (similar height to a normal 2 storey house). From an urban design viewpoint it would outlive the surrounding buildings and so should hopefully not be a problem with planners. It would also be a more attractive space for larger gatherings and be better acoustically, for lighting, ventilation and heating. Mike suggested a small hall larger than the old hall which, when combined with the storage room, would give enough space for pre-school to run concurrently with other users. This would mean that pre-school could run for the 3 extra sessions and apply for funding. The plan includes showers and a larger cleaner’s store with electric meters in.
A figure of £900/sq.m would be a good budget to provide hard wearing, durable materials.
If a planning application is submitted by the PC then there will be a reduction of 50% in fees payable.
A planning supervisor would be needed to pull together clients, architects and planners.
Some elements would be liable for VAT.
A contingency would be needed for unforeseen circumstances.
A site investigation may be a good idea to ascertain how easy it will be to dig the foundations.
In Mike’s experience a timescale of 22 weeks is realistic.
Mike concluded by saying that by choosing an architect designed building we would not just be providing a facility for the village but would also be providing something that has longevity and is attractive.
1.10. Presentation - Clive gave a brief presentation about where we’ve come from, where we are now and where we might go next. He considered the two build options giving pros and cons for each.
1.11. Decision - there followed a lengthy discussion between the whole group about the pros and cons of each option. Bob pointed out that the remit of the group is to replace the village hall. Mike objected; he feels that we need to do something better than merely replace the hall, and we owe the village the choice of choosing what it wants. A vote was taken on whether we decide on an option now or give a presentation to the village and delay choosing. The vote was split almost 50/50. Bob then asked the group what their choice would be if a decision had to be made now. The group was again split about 50/50. John commented that he had heard criticisms of the modular build that had not been answered and therefore he abstained.
It was agreed that we give a presentation to the village on Thursday 28th October at 8pm in the Church.
Both options will be presented at the meeting; we will take opinions and then the Management Committee will make the final decision which will be recommended to the Parish Council.
The meeting closed at 11pm.