Tingwall Hall repairs needed
Ryan Taylor
Ambitious plans have been drawn to raise £100,000 for repairs to the Tingwall hall.
Committee members have already earmarked £10,000 to help restore crumbling concrete works caused by an ingress of water.
They hope the financial gap can be further filled with a “buy a block” scheme for community members who use the 33-year-old building.
Hall representatives say “selling” blocks at £10 each has the potential to raise £30,000.
But they are also calling on anyone who can offer further help to dig as deeply as they can.
The ongoing efforts have been made necessary because of a decision by Shetland Islands Council to cease its support of grant requests for community halls.
A statement from the hall committee said: “The Tingwall Public Hall was built and opened 33 years ago in 1981.
“Due to some noticeable problems with the exterior rendering, a survey of the building was undertaken by Arch Henderson in March 2012 which confirmed that the exterior wall of concrete blocks were crumbling due to the ingress of water, a problem that is not uncommon in Shetland for buildings of this era.
“The proposed remedy is to remove the exterior block work and replace it as soon as possible to ensure that water does not penetrate to the interior wall resulting in the same problem of crumbling block work.
“The hall committee appointed Architects Redman & Sutherland to draw up plans and specifications for the work and to oversee the tendering for the work. The result of this process to carry out the work is a figure of around £100,000 which includes the builders work and appropriate fees.
“The hall committee have accepted that this project is essential for the continuation of Tingwall Public Hall and have already paid some £10,000 on the reports and architects fees for the project and are determined to raise the necessary funds to carry out and complete the work.
“This will be a huge challenge for the committee and the whole of the Tingwall community. Shetland Island Council no longer support grant requests for the community halls, so funding is being sought from local and national bodies and fund raising events will be taking place on a regular basis.
“We are planning a ‘buy a block’ scheme for members of the community which at £10.00 a block could raise £30,000.00.”
The committee is calling on anyone wishing to get involved in fund-raising to contact either chairman Alan Gray, secretary Mandy Thomson or treasurer Moraig Lyall.
Dave Cooper
Someone has to say it. Now that the once rich benefactor has gone away. Would there be any merit in demolishing the part of the hall with problems leaving the community a hall they can afford to run.
Or take the whole lot down. Sell off land as a brownfield housing site. Thereby increasing the size of the community. Then build a hall that can be sustained.
Discuss.