Village Hall Refurbishment Plans Update

   Key Elements of the Proposed Revitalisation

 The conception for the revitalisation project is simple:
 - to provide a Village Hall which is an attractive, accessible and efficient building at the centre of community life, not just for now but for the next 100 years

- to take advantage of the Village Hall as a potential source of income to support
community activities, services and projects
- to do this while retaining main elements of the existing structure and traditional
appearance of the building.

The Scheme Proposed

A brief for the project was developed by the Revitalisation Action Group based on many ideas
submitted by the community, by village organisations, by users of the village
hall and by schoolchildren. The Architects (Green Design Partnership, Cockermouth) have worked closely to this brief. Initial proposals involved an ambitious project with a second storey; a lot of progress was made on this, planning permission was obtained, but eventually it became clear that funding on the scale required was unlikely to be forthcoming, and a “scaled back” version was agreed. This incorporates the key elements of the scheme overall, but on a single storey.

The revised plan involves retention of the main hall pretty much as it is, but “wrapping”
around it a new extension. The facilities include:
- a rear extension which will accommodate a coffee shop/gallery to be open every day; this is a crucial element of the overall scheme, allowing the Hall to be used to generate income from visitors as well as from local people
-  new toilets, with dedicated disabled toilets and showers
- a new kitchen linked to the main hall
- a new pedestrian entrance set back from the main road
- complete accessibility for wheelchairs, with sliding doors and a lift at the rear
- high-standard insulation, plus photovoltaic panels, solar panels, ground source heat pumps and underf;loor heating to minimise running costs
- local or recycled material as much as reasonably possible.

Funding

The proposed scheme will cost about £650,000 – a lot of money, but this is because it reflects what the village requires if it is to provide a useful facility for many years to come. Applications are being made to the Big Lottery and other funders, and also money is being raised by a variety of local efforts.

  The latest architect plans for the Village Hall can now be downloaded or viewed below:

Threlkeld Village Hall (PDF format) and Ground Floor Plan (PDF format)