Estimated Price

£21,135

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Summary

We want to make Lochee Community Larder & Café safe for everyone! To do this we need to resurface the back area of our premises due to numerous accidents and injuries to our volunteers. Over the past 12 months, the uneven nature of this area has been the cause of volunteers having to attend A&E, ambulances being called and long absences from duties because of injuries.

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Description

Local Priority: Safe and accessible pathways/ spaces.  

We are a busy community larder & café based in Lochee. Our aims are to: • fight food poverty by providing a more sustainable food provision model, where community can access and choose free or low-cost food; • fight social isolation by creating a welcoming community café; • and create a safe space that is non-judgemental. We will be using the grant money to resurface the back access to the larder, café, storage units, shops and residents drying area. The area has become very uneven and quite dangerous. Resurfacing it will help ensure the safety of the staff, volunteers, general public and residents. This will also enhance the aesthetics of the area. Whilst we have created a safe and welcoming space inside our larder & café for the local community. The back access area, which is in constant use by our volunteers and delivery drivers during our opening hours, as well as residents and the general public delivering donations to us, has become unsafe. This work has become urgent due to the number of injuries our volunteers have been sustaining, which has a negative knock-on effect to the running of the larder and café.

Over the past 12 months there have been numerous accidents due to the uneven nature of the surface. Volunteers have had to attend A&E, ambulances called and long absences from duties because of injuries. We have had conversations with the neighbouring properties above us, suppliers, general public and the other business in the vicinity. The outcome of these conversations is that everyone is in agreement that the area needs to be resurfaced to enhance and ensure the safety of everyone.

We would like you to know of the issues that have arisen over the years we have been in situ. There have been several accidents to volunteers resulting in damage to their person which have required hospital treatment. As well as the uneven surface, when the loose stones get wet, they become very slippery causing slips and falls. There has also been damage caused to cars due to uneven surface and loose stones which have been repaired at cost to individuals. Some of the injuries have had an impact on the running of the larder & café as volunteers have been out of action for sometimes weeks. One example is a volunteer who was unable to lift any crates for 4 months due to a back injury sustained by tripping over the uneven ground when unloading items from a delivery van. We have recently had the pathway to the rear of the premise which leads to our stock rooms re-laid which in itself has made a big difference to the quality and appearance of the premises. We funded this renovation, with money from grocery sales. We received the quote from Tayside Contracts after we got the council confirmation, and this is the one we would like to proceed with