July 10th 2010

Progress at last

The Welsh Assembly have confirmed a grant of £300,000

This with additional funding from the Aberdyfi Advertising and Improveements Committee, Peter Saunders Trust and our own funds means that the project of building an annexe on the rear of the building can start! Our Architects Catalina are preparing the plans and we hope to go out to tender in the autumn. What we will be able to achieve for funds raised so far will be dependent on what the builders submit in their bids.

For an up to date sketch plan of what we hope to build click here

Update on the Neuadd Dyfi Project May 2010

We are at an interesting stage with our Neuadd Dyfi Project. It may or may not happen depending on whether we can obtain some key matched funding

Legal and Organisational

" Full Planning permission was obtained in the Autumn of 2008
" We have produced an updated Governing Document which has been approved by the Charity Commission.
" We have purchased the freehold of the property from Gwynedd Council using locally raised funds.
" We have vested the Neuadd Dyfi land in the Official Custodian for Charities.
" We have provisionally agreed a rental value for the doctors surgery through the district valuer

Grants applied for have included the following

CFAP, Community Facilities and Activities Programme Conditionally awarded £300k July 2009
Snowdonia National Park Cae Scheme Awarded £10k for sustainable energy requires matched funding
Annog Rural Enterprise Enabling Fund Application transferred to Cyfenter
Big Lottery People and Places Unsuccessful application
Community Asset Transfer Fund Considered ineligible as building was bought 2 weeks before guidelines published
Annog Cyfenter Grant Conditional offer of £150k

Other grants have been investigated such as
" Low Carbon Building Programme as installation needs to be operational by Feb 2011 unlikely option. This had been our key hope for green energy.
" Community Scale Renewable Energy Generation Program of the Welsh Assembly Government, our current scheme is too small.
" Various RDP and convergence funds with no success though new ones are coming on stream.

The project

The project consist of essentially 3 key elements. With QS calculated costs they are:-

Element one -£373,000 -community annexe
Element two -£184,000 - doctor's surgery
Element three -£214,000 - environmentally friendly heating and power system, modification to the existing hall air handling and other items

The total target could cost in the region of £771,000.

The rationale is that although it would be less beneficial to do so, each of these elements (or parts of them) could be developed as discrete projects depending on the availability of funding. It had been hoped that we would be successful for a full scheme but we are in a better position to at least achieve something.

The only definitely secured grants are the £300k from CFAP and £10k from CAE
The application to CFAP was specifically for the Community Annexe part of the project.
It is a definite offer of £300,000 but we must prove that we have the matched funding of £73,000 by the 27th of July. We have ta possible offer of £150,000 but his has a number of "health warnings" as the grant scheme hasn't been fully launched and our application needs final approval fromthe assesing panel which hasn't been appointed yet!

At a recent management committee meeting we prioritised the doctor's surgery at top of the list. The rationale being that it saved the loss of this facility and gave a guaranteed income of £7,250 to support all the operations of the hall. Our architects came up with a phased scheme with the surgery part and other essential ground work costs and costs of going out to tender being achieved within the available funds. Initial indications from CFAP were that this would be a possibility. However CFAP have now completely ruled it out. We have to use the £300,000 for the project as described in our application which was just for the community annexe.

So we are in a dilemma. We have shortfall of £73,000 which, if we fail to get, will mean we will lose the £300,000 and risk losing the whole project.

Finance

" We have an offer of an interest free loan of £30,000 for 5 years (possibly extendable).

We have approaached the AAI for support

" We have approached the Peter Saunders Trust for support. They have asked us to submit an application that will be considered at their meeting on the 19th of June. We cannot predict the outcome.

" We are doing other local fundraising activities and events to top up our contribution. The Rowing Club has just done the Celtic Challenge and has raised well over £1400 in sponsorship. There is a James Bond night on the 19th of June. The Dance Club are holding a Ceilidh.

" We have cash reserves of about £12,000. We cannot however commit all of this to the project as reserves are just that. Some of this however is specifically for the project.

What Now

Our hope is that we will secure enough matched funding to enable CFAP to release their funds. This will enable us to do a full design and to go out to tender. Builders locally seem very keen for work at the moment so we are optimistic that costs will come out as predicted. We have some scope to trim the spec to reduce costs if necessary but hopefully we won't need to. The tender document will be in the form of a phased project. Prospective builders will know precisely what work definitely has funding but we will avoid the necessity of going out to tender again should we be successful in achieving further funds. If Cyfenter comes up trumps in addition to the Community Annexe we might for example have sufficient to build the shell of the doctors surgery and fit it out using volunteer labour (we have had some offers from tradesmen). We are still committed to installing green energy systems but with the loss of the Low Carbon Building programme unsure how to proceed. We hope at least to include Ground Source heat pump drilling in the first phase.

The Doctors Surgery is still a vital part of the design. It will preserve this essential service for the village and produce an annual income of £7250 vital to the sustainability of the hall. However without the community annexe it is doubtful that we will attract new funding for a standalone surgery project. We have the offer of £300,000 available till 27th of July. We feel making all efforts to securing the matched funds of £73,000 is the best route towards success.

There are as always lots of variables, ifs and buts. We are though in a position to make a substantial start........................................................

If we can secure the £73,000........................................
Contact us for details

March 2010

We now own our hall

The hall has been purchased for and by our community. Completion took place in late October .

Many thanks to all those individuals and community groups who very generously donated or did activities to raise the funds needed to purchase the freehold of the hall from Gwynedd Council. Gift Aid alone brought in nearly £2000. To those that donated generously in the Autumn again a big thank you. To others who would like to support the development of the hall a gift aid form can be found on www.neuadddyfi.co.uk

The Latest full designs as of 30/6/08

Planning permision granted

With a generous donation from the Aberdyfi players and AAI we now have designed a scaled down scheme is complete. Many thanks to the Peter Saunders Trust for their generous donation of £1500 towards the design fees. A planning application was submitted during the summer 2008 and it was approved in october!

North elevation

Plan 2

Decisions are being made,

Funding oportunities are being explored,

Meetings are scheduled.

The idea

The Neuadd Dyfi Community Annexe and sustainable heating system Statement of Justification

We have acknowledged that we needed to present a significantly reduced scheme from that shown below, without losing the key elements.

In essence the community annexe is reduced to a large and very flexible space. This will be able to be divided into three smaller rooms with movable partitions. The area will be single story but foundations layout will be such that a second floor could be installed in the future

The doctors annexe is as it was planned before moved but to the east

The proposed elements are as follows in suggested order of priority. Should funding not be available for whole scheme the lower number will take priority

Left hand side of rear Neuadd Dyfi showing location of the proposed annexe. Shed to be demolished

The Big Questions

Details of the original full scheme is presented at the bottom

Right hand side other outbuilding to be demolishedand rear lean to.

" Doctors Surgery
" New Heating System for Main hall
" Additional accommodation/facilities
" Acoustic treatment of the main hall

Why are we doing it?
" To continue improving our community hall by making it more versatile.
" To respond to the Health and Wellbeing strategy of both Gwynedd Council and the Welsh Assembly by maintaining key facility of doctors surgery in the village and providing a venue that encourages activities and events that have positive lifestyle outcomes for our community.
" Respond to the climate change challenge by producing a carbon neutral building that is pleasant to be in and cheap to run
" To generate extra income stream therefore make the halls operation more sustainable (in 2014 we will be responsible for all maintenance)

What will it cost?
Feasibility study indicates £1.1million this includes all fees VAT etc and future proofed for 2 years.

Can we raise this sort of money?
Initial research indicates it would be difficult

How can we reduce cost?

" Reduce the annexe footprint
" Build single storey
" Remove the "green" elements
" Don't bother with Acoustic element in existing hall
" Make sure as much as possible is VAT exempt

Who would fund it anyway?

We have received approval from Big lottery fund to apply which is a significant hurdle.
Various European funds such as the Community Facilities and Activities Programme are coming on stream.

What chances do we have anyway?
Who knows? We will never know if we don't try? The more support that comes from the village the better our chances are. We need to demonstrate need and positive outcomes. The more we align applications to national and local strategies such as Health and Wellbeing, low carbon building programme etc the better our chances are.

What is the way forward?
We cannot leave it mid stream as we have spent significant funds and should seek a return. Grants have been given which are being monitored. We need to fund further design by producing less ambitious options without losing the key elements. Our own funds are limited and should be held in reserve. The big lottery has a capital development programme that can be applied for which a grant is given under the People and Places programme solely to prepare the technical and design information that big lottery require for projects with capital expenditure. This is I think our best next step.

The ND management Committee has embarked on the design and hopefully construction of improved facilities at the rear of the hall

So far we have attracted grants from

1. Galluogi Gwynedd Fund

2 Combined Churches

3. National Park community fund for heating system plan

4 Gwynedd Sustainability Grant for heating system design.

5Gwynedd Rural Fund

and our own resources.

The Gwynedd Council Regeneration officer has been incredibly helpful.

We have commisioned Lionel Curtis and Rory Wilson to come up with some ideas of what is possible. The plans have been drawn up and can be seen by clicking the links below.

Architects website is here LCRW

Click on image for larger version

Plan of ground floor of annexe

full scheme proposed Sept 07

Plan of the first floor of annexe

updated Sept 07

elevations

updated Sept 0707