Quick Summary
- All planning details in hand, good progress on all aspects.
- Progress, is being made with the lease, although the legal side has been slower than anticipated.
- Revised construction costs remain in line with previous estimates, after taking into account the cost of additional groundwork and services requirements for the playing
field site. - Funding position – we are delighted to add a £15,000 grant from the Garfield Weston
Foundation and a recent personal donation of £2,000 from a member of the
community. This gives us a current total secured funding of £310,255.- Fundraising activities continue with a full diary of events with terrific sustained
enthusiasm from the team. - Grant applications made are still under consideration.
- New initiatives to start imminently, including a Village Appealad
- In order to provide certainty to secure all existing financial commitments we
are considering requesting a loan to cover any shortfall and would like to
explore all opportunities with the Parish Council.
- Fundraising activities continue with a full diary of events with terrific sustained
Detailed Report
Planning Application
- Planning Application approved on 7th October 2019
- Conditions to be discharged before commencement of work on site in progress.
Construction Drawings / Specification
All drawings and specification complete. Currently waiting for quotations for Building Regulation application approval, including, application fee, inspection charges, energy
calculations and air permeability testing.
Bishops Hull Hub and Trust Sub-Group Update on Lease
- Somerset West & Taunton Council’s Solicitor’s Heads of Terms for head lease and draft head Lease received by the Village Hall & Playing Field Trust, and sent to the Hub’s solicitor. The sub lease currently being prepared based on Head lease and draft sub lease Heads of Terms.
- The Lottery fund legal team have confirmed they are willing to accept the sub lease which is in progress.
Construction Costs and Programme.
- The revised tender received from R&J Sweet is £473,042.24, including 5% contingency and offering a saving of £16,510 with recommended changes to the specification, which we feel are acceptable. We have also identified a further saving of £3,000, which can be made on the welfare fittings specification.
The adjusted contract sum, (with savings) is £452,556.74, including 5% contingency. - The additional cost, compared the previously estimated construction cost of £420,000, is due to the change in site from the church hall site to the playing field site, in particular the following:
- Change from a level site to a sloping site which requires the levelling of the site, with approx.1M of additional blockwork at the lower end and compaction of filled ground to level the front apron area to the building.
- Provision of a new footpath, with lighting, from the village road to the new site.(original site fronting onto church car park)
- Additional drainage works, including sewer diversion. (original site served by existing drains to church hall)
- New service connections from main road (original site had services in place to church hall)
- Additional contract period and related costs due to more extensive drainage and site-works.
- Additional security fencing due to more open site location and proximity to school.
- The tender figure does not include the provision of the solar panels, which were not included in the previous tender. These can be fitted at a future date subject to future fundraising.
- The tender does not include any allowance for any voluntary labour that may be forthcoming during the construction, which may reduce costs.
- The revised tender details have been forwarded to the lottery officer, to check that they Do not require us to obtain two further tenders.
- The possible construction programme agreed in principle with R&J Sweet is for the Hub project to start on site in May 2020 next year with completion in February 2021, subject
to securing funding.
In addition to the construction costs we will have to fund the professional fees for the administration of the building contract, which have been quoted by our Architects as £10,000. This gives a total project cost of £462,556.74, rounded up to £462,557.00
Funding and Grant Applications
Current secured funding is now as follows
- Section 106 fund – £236,755.00.
- CIL fund £50,000.00
- Garfield Weston Foundation. Approved Grant £15,000.00
- Current Hub funds (fundraising, donations and Buy A Brick) – £8,500.00
Total secured fund of £310,255.00.
This leaves a total of £152,302.00 to be secured through grant funding, Hub activities and donations.
Applications in progress are:
- National Lottery reaching communities fund – £75,000. First stage approved. Now in final stage and due for a decision in February. Note: Lottery will not release funds until all required funding is in place.
- Bernard Sunley Fund – £15,000. Application acknowledged. Awaiting decision.
- Gannett Foundation – £7,500. Application submitted. Awaiting decision.
- Fairfield Trust £10,000. Application acknowledged. Awaiting decision.
- Small grants (Waitrose, Tesco, One Stop)- £3,300. Applications submitted
Total – £110,800.00
The Following additional applications are currently being considered / prepared:
- Foyle Foundation – £10,000 (estimate)
- Norman Family Trust – £5,000 (estimate)
- SC foundation, Somerset Fund – £1,500
- Wessex Water Community Fund – £1,500
- Dorothy Whitney Elmhirst Trust- £10,000 (estimate)
Total -£28,000.00
Summary of funding:
Remaining funding required – £152,302.00
Less grants awaiting response- £110,800.00
Less grant applications being prepared – £28,000.00
Current Shortfall £13,502.00
Additional Fundraising
To counter the current shortfall in grant funding we will be launching a Village Appeal and as we cannot guarantee that all our applications will be successful, based on recent experience, we intend to set a target of £60,000 to be raised by the appeal.
We will also continue to hold fundraising events, which will include a variety of village based activities and the regular Hub Café.
As all funds have to be secured in principle before we can claim any grants, including the potential lottery funding, we need to have a backup plan to cover any shortfall in funds, that we may have before the programmed start on site in May 2020. Assuming our lottery application is successful our proposal is to seek a government loan for any shortfall in remaining funds to be financed from the estimated surplus income, calculated from our estimate of Hub income and operating costs.
Professional Fees
Our fee schedule has been revised to update estimated fees where confirmed and to include an allowance for the preparation of the more complex head lease and sub lease arrangements. All pre-contract professional fees remain within our cost allowance. An invoice for the Architect’s fees for the completion of the construction drawings and specification has been forwarded to the Parish Council for payment.
If you have anyfurther questions, please get in touch.
email – bishopshullhub@gmail.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/BishopsHullHub/
or come to our next cafe