Just got this from Alan Tomlinson who kindly let me put it on this blog ahead of it's publication in the Runner - well done indeed to the team.....The Low Carbon Building Program awarded £24,000 to Randwick village hall this week. At the same time the Villagers and village organisations pledged over £6,000 in personal loans securing the future of the improvement project (see more here).
This last funding block has been anxiously awaited for weeks and follows two other donations totaling £45,000. The village hall committee are now committed to spending £81,000 on the improvement project, of which £69,000 has been funded through energy efficiency grants. £71,000 will be spent on micro generation energy schemes, the balance of £10,000 will be spent redecorating the buildings inside and out, upgrading the electrical systems including new low energy led lighting and a refit of the back room so it can be maintained in a clean and servicable condition. The project will be completed by September this year leaving £24,000 in the coffers to refurbish the toilet block next year.
Project Leader, Alan Tomlinson told the Runner (and this blog!): "This is fantastic news. We are delighted with the response to our cash loan appeal which demonstrates how much the community values this facility. The £24,000 from LCBP is the icing on the cake, and to top it all 50% of this latest funding is available up front so, unless we have a major overspend, we won't need to borrow any money. "
The scheme involves two micro generation technologies, a ground source heat pump powering a new state of the art high efficiency heating and hot water system and a photo voltaic cell array on the roof. The scheme takes advantage of the south facing elevation. It is in a prime position to gain maximum benefit from converting sunlight into electricity and exporting electricity the the national grid. The adjacent playing field will cover a 600m long, 1.2m deep pipe network used to absorb energy from below the ground and pump it into the heating system.
The scheme will see Randwick as the first carbon neutral village hall in the UK. The technologies are maintenance free and will be unnoticable to the uninformed users of the building. Moreover the technologies will be truly sustainable as they will generate income through exporting of energy to the grid, making the hall not only insular from spiraling energy costs but also financially independant.
As an additional point they are looking at a whole host of other issues like recycling in the hall, making cost of village hall hire for whole village events free and more.
1 comment:
Well done to all concerned.
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