We last updated you when the bid to The Big Lottery Fund had failed. You may recall that in order to have a Village Hall for the new century we had been looking for almost £300,000 investment.

The need did not disappear and could still be summarised as follows :-

• a modern facility inside a 19th century shell
• comfortable, warm surroundings
• kitchen equipped to cater for 100 seated guests
• bar and refreshment area
• store rooms to service the building's use

What was evident was that a small working group needed to define the end goal so that plans could be staged and implemented as funding became available. Whilst these plans are being finalised the Village Hall committee have made some priority decisions :-

• 60 comfortable new conference chairs have been purchased. The cost of almost £2000 was paid from Village Hall funds.

  Benefit - general agreement that events are even more enjoyable with comfortable seating           

   

• cavity wall insulation and additional loft insulation have been installed. A grant of £880 from Salisbury District Council covered almost 90% of the cost.

           Benefit - already many people remark that the hall is warmer and some have added that the acoustics are improved.

• quotes have been obtained to install double glazed uPVC windows in the main hall. The cost will be approximately £2500 and it is hoped that a grant can be obtained to help with the investment. The plan is to have new windows before the winter.

• quotes have been obtained for a completely new heating system. A lengthy period of investigation, consultation, site visits and meetings resulted in an environmentally favourable system being chosen. This is an Air Source Heat Pump and here is a concise description of it as follows :-

        Overview

• After the extensive investigations that led to the Feasibility Study, an Air Source Heat Pump System was considered to be most suitable for our needs.
   

• Air Source Heat Pumps absorb heat from the outside to heat buildings. There are two types of air-source heating systems. Air-to-air systems provide warm air, which is circulated to heat the building. The other type, air-to-water, heats water to provide heating to a building through radiators or an under-floor system.
  
  Benefits
   

•  The benefits of Air Source Heat Pumps are that the system requires no use or storage of external fuel. The system runs on electricity. Air source heat pumps require minimal internal space to install. In the proposed system, the heat is used to produce warm air, which is circulated by fans to heat the building.  Compressor fans will be fitted to the external walls of the hall and the heat will be delivered from ceiling mounted units.
  
  How it works
   

• In the same way that a fridge uses refrigerant to extract heat from the inside, keeping the contents cool, an air source heat pump extracts heat from the outside air, and uses it to heat the building. The efficiency of air source systems is measured by a coefficient of performance (CoP). CoPs for air source systems generally range between 3 and 4. This means that for every unit of electricity used to power the pump, 3-4 units of heat are produced, making it an efficient way of heating a building. It is even possible for air source heat pumps to extract useful heat from air at temperatures as low as minus 15^oC.
  
  Proposed Installation
   

• 3 x 7 KW Daikin inverter heat pump units consisting of external condensing units linked to 3 x 4 way blow under ceiling suspended cassette units. Provision of electrical supplies, fitting the system, control units and condensing unit cages are inclusive to the overall cost.
   

• We believe that such a system will offer the Village Hall:
   

• Uniform, controllable heat distribution giving a warm, comfortable Village Hall that is attractive to existing and potential users.
   

• Energy efficiency and reduced overhead costs.
   

• Improved dehumidification and the eradication of condensation damp 
   

        The heating system will require an investment of approximately £14,000 and we are about to apply for a grant to
        cover the majority of this amount.

        Quotes are being obtained for new fire doors to replace the draughty wooden ones.

        This will then complete the current phase of improvements. By the time it is finished there will be an agreed plan of 
         how the Village Hall will look upon completion of the whole grand refurbishment. It will open up the planning of the 
         major building work to provide the new kitchen, refreshment bar and store rooms.

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