Estimated Price

£30,000

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Summary

St. Mary’s Hall, a major community asset in Lochee, Dundee, is under threat of closure due to its poor physical condition. This project aims to urgently improve the Hall’s condition, avoid closure and HAR registration, make it disabled-friendly, fit for purpose, increase its usability and safeguard it for current & future generations.

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Description

Local Priority: Enhanced community facilities.

The Hall is unwelcoming, in poor condition, inaccessible & unsuitable with inadequate kitchen & toilet facilities & lacking a lift to the first floor. Visible issues internally+externally are rapidly worsening & negatively affecting Hall’s usability & considerably reducing the number of users. This Project will: 1-Execute urgent repairs to the roof/walls/windows & replace rainwater goods (considerably overdue), to stop rapid deterioration caused by massive water-ingress, Safeguarding Hall’s features/fabric/Heritage, enhancing appearance (townscape transformation) & improving condition. 2-Making Hall disabled-friendly & ‘all inclusive’ by installing a much needed lift. All with mobility problems/crutches/wheelchair users cannot access the first floor, where the stage is found. This is ’Disability Discrimination’, a major barrier to all in the community to ‘fully’ access & appreciate/benefit from this Community Hall. 3-Make essential improvements to outdated, inadequate/unsuitable toilet+kitchen facilities, meeting the needs of community users. A grant from Neighbourhood Capital Fund will be used towards no 2 and no 3. Outcomes Aiming to ‘Enhance Community Facilities’, this Project will: Make the Hall more accessible (remove physical challenges/barriers e.g installation of lift, improvements to toilets). Hall will become a safer,/suitable,/inclusive,/attracting & meaningful Hub in its offering of a warm+welcoming community space, (where needs are being met). Raise the profile of ‘Lochee’ District in Dundee Contribute to shared social & cultural identity, creating excitement, inspiring/encouraging & improving collective abilities/social functioning, boost confidence & improve significantly emotional & mental well-being create sense of belonging & ‘Pride in Place’ Improve Hall’s facilities, condition & increased access. This improves user experience, increases inclusivity & sustainability, guaranteeing greater use. Optimism & enthusiasm increased locally, enabling Hall to function as a better central Hub for social interactions+activities unify community to work towards common goals, promoting & strengthening community cohesion, eradicating social fractures identify & outreach to a greater diversity of people to connect with their local communities & groups help with ‘Place Making’ enabling Lochee/Dundee to be a better place to be, live, work, visit, study, thrive & invest in Open up many opportunities for interaction, volunteering, skills training/workshops/placements in the ‘new secure place’. boost trade from tourists as Lochee Heritage site becomes better known. attract more investment, creating more available capital in the area around Hall, giving rise to more supporting businesses of a diverse nature moving into this area. This causes economic growth to spiral upwards. improve economic well-being by increasing employment for a range of workers on the socio-economic scale.

Since 2022, we’ve received many complaints from Hall users about its poor condition & its run-down facilities. A petition was then signed by hundreds of current users & beneficiaries stating the seriousness of the building condition & requesting improvement & preservation of this important community space. We then carried out a number of discussions & consultation exercises with a variety of local people, groups, Educational Institutions & Local Authorities, obtaining their views+suggestions, to understand/explore their needs & interests. Gaps in the social welfare services, the needs of the Educational Institutions & community groups were then identified. We considered how this Social Space & Project could best help Lochee Community members & also mitigate Dundee’s severe social issues: Removing barriers/challenges, improving social equity, creating opportunities & improving quality of life, were foremost on this Project’s Agenda. We met with the three Dundee High Schools, serious concerns were shared about available+suitable career paths for their pupils. They welcomed the chance to provide their youth with realistic alternatives to the unhealthy & destructive lifestyles currently prevalent in Dundee. Exciting roles & availability of variety of jobs would motivate/inspire pupils & increase employability opportunities. We then considered showcasing Hall’s repairs/improvements to pupils & introducing available exciting manual+professional Heritage Careers+information about available training bursaries to remove financial ‘barriers/challenges’ to enrich pupils' Heritage craft/skills for steady employment in the Heritage Sector. There was overwhelming agreement with project aims & projected outcomes to further develop this project.