It took the Bourne Community Trust more than 14 years to raise enough money to start the job – raising over £2m for a new Community Hub at Bourne, including a 50- place pre-school, facilities for young people and a wide range of activities and services for local people of all ages. Following a competitive tender, the Trust has awarded Amiri Construction a £2m construction contract to build a new Community Hub. The fundraising had to continue as the build commenced.
Local work, making the economy work for everyone - Construction was run from Amiri’s Bournemouth office, less than 5 miles from the site, and is a return to the area for Amiri having delivered Quay School, some 200 metres up the road. There were two M&E apprentices on the site throughout the services element of the project.
True collaboration of multi-stakeholders - The site was donated by the Talbot Village Trust and they and 15 other charities, including The Big Issue, were all involved in the fundraising effort for the project. Community engagement and fundraising remained a large part of the efforts throughout the project. As ever, our supply chain stepped-up to the challenge.
With the shortfall between money raised and contract sum there was a “Buy a brick” campaign to bridge the funding gap. All of our sub-contract orders included required donation to the “Buy a Brick” and they willingly participated. A number of subcontractors donated goods and services free of charge - Elliott’s, one of main materials suppliers, provided two kitchens, including all white goods and all the paint; Howdens provided a substantial amount of second fix materials; RJC, mechanical contractor, donated hand driers and the designers reduced their design fee - Amiri Construction staff worked with the Trust to move them in! The total value donated was circa £45,000.
Opening the doors to interested stakeholders – there were numerous visits from all the community stakeholders (pre-school operator, caterers, community trust volunteers, user groups) throughout the course of construction – including a ceremonial “block laying” ceremony. There was a ground breaking ceremony with all stakeholders who had supported the project to get to construction stage. There was a completion ceremony for key stakeholders and supply chain to say thank you for the hard work and an official opening ceremony with a key ribbon cutting is going to be held in November.
Ensuring the client maintains frontline services whilst work continues - a temporary building arrived on the adjacent site in May to enable the pre-school and youth provision to continue during the 12-month construction period.
The result – we improved significantly on the air permeability through good construction- air tightness. The result achieved was 3.23m3 with a criteria of 5m3.
‘This will make a huge positive difference to the people of Bourne, who are so often overlooked. Enormous thanks to all the organisations and individuals who have grant funded or made donations to this amazing project. We are hugely grateful for their support and the determination and commitment of local residents to get the Hub up and running. We look forward to working with Amiri Construction to turn our dream into reality.'
Chris Beale, Chair of Poole Communities Trust
