Pulteney centre

[harland]

I see the new centre is on the verge of opening.....

Does anyone share my concerns over the future of the Assembly Rooms?

[1966]

No......??

[captain chaos]

Having seen the plans for the layout of the pulteney centre I dont think the assembly rooms need worry

[gollach]

The centre is getting plenty coverage on the front page of the Org today.

[pat]

As I no longer live in Caithness I feel I should not comment - but am going to.

I could not understand why they were building a new community centre when they had the Assembly Rooms just up the hill - but it came down to money, a new project got money.
Assembly Rooms which requires money spent on it but the money has to come from the Council/Town funds - liable to fall down before money required is spent on updating this building.
This is the same as the old houses - easier to get money for new builds and ends up cheaper as you get VAT back and house is fully insulated and rewired to current standards.
Cannot imagine room sizes will be the size of the Assembly Rooms.

[shamrock2007]

Don't think it will hit the assembly rooms but as a cafe owner I'm worried!

[pat]

If they are having a cafe I hope they are not going to subsidise it from funds, they should be operating it on a normal business basis.

[Pepsix]

The cafe will run as a social enterprise, it does not receive any funding to subsidise it, any profit made goes back into the project/community. It will be competetively priced so it does not displace other establishments. It will be up to the Dillon and his team to provide a high class service, providing good quality food that is value for money, so people will return.

The centre will provide a soft play area for children (the nearest being Invnerness), adhoc childcare - for parents wanting an hour every now and again, as well as children whose parents works away as they do not need regular childcare and cannot access adhoc.

it will have 6 offices for rental, two training suites with touchscreen smart boards, training kitchen, and conference/meeting room, which will primarily be used for community use, such as hobby groups, and classes.

the hall has seating for 120, much smaller than the assembly rooms, its main use is as a sports hall, with the intention to buy good cinema equipement if funds allow so that it can be used as a cinema venue. It can accomodate birthday parties, small weddings, and conferences.

It should not have an impact on the Assembly Rooms, as the project went to great lengths not to duplicate, there is so little decent venues in the town that all are needed.

Funding could not be sourced to upgrade the Assembly Rooms, as it would need a building warrant to complete any substantial work, if this was requested, there would be issues around parking, DDA standards, lifts being required to all levels. The rooms were big, high and the running costs would not make it viable, so did not meet funders requirements.

The funding would have went to the central belt or other areas is Scotland if it was not sourced by PPP. It was not handed to the group, they had to work hard on designs, business plans, sourcing funding and encouraging the funders to give to their project, which took over 5 years. Many projects do not get that far. The contracts went locally and have kept lcoal companies - Millers and Barnies and their staff in work during a very hard economical time.

And to set the record straight, very little work is 'subsidised' they group submit bids and win contracts to deliver services in the community. The main competition being organisations who base most of their staff and main office in Inverness with a token gesture staff in some rented desk somewhere in Caithness. Parents pay for childcare, people pay for courses, but being a community group it is able to do things like organise bus trips for elderly, pensioners computer and cooking group, and hobbies groups for people from throughout the east side of the county, who come along and meet new friends. This is what is subsidised usually by PPP allocating staff to organise and run the events. Things that unless you are involved with you know nothing about.

It is amusing how people moan when nothing comes to the town, then moans when it does! If a cafe was opening up down the street, would other business's be moaning on the org that they are worried!! Surely we should all be supporting each other to improve facilities and ammenities in our town to stop people going to Inverness to get the services they want, how has some people got to be so negative about everything?

[Pouleriscaig]

I think the Project sounds great and all credit for getting it off the ground.
Is it open for anyone to come along and see?

I think all those involved in its development should be praised and encouraged.
Well done and good luck with all you have planned!

[Pepsix]

Thanks Pouleriscraig for your support and encouragement.

Yes the building will be open to the public and will provide an array of activities for people of all ages. We have jewellery, art, flower arranging, mixed media art, spanish, online computer courses organised for anyone in the community to join. As well as a drama and music group on a monday night, football training on a tuesday night for teenagers, there is a cafe, soft play and childcare. There is more information on our website and facebook page.

The building will be open to the public from 9.00am on Monday 23rd January, feel free to come in and have a look and see what is on offer. :)

[Dadie]

Cant wait for it to open!
I would like to take part in some of the activities/lessons during the day, but trying to juggle the kids and transport and childcare could be a problem!
But I will be making the most of the softplay area!

[secrets in symmetry]

I think the new Centre looks fantastic. Congratulations to Pepsix and her team for a job well done. You're an asset to your community. :cool:

[NLP]

I think the Youth Club will lose trade with the new place doing parties to.

[katarina]

The youth club cannot accommodate all the kids in the town who would like to use it. We need something new. All the best for the new project!

[Crackeday]

I think the Youth Club will lose trade with the new place doing parties to.
Thats been happening for a while as people use staxigoe hall etc as well.
Dont think it will affect the youth club greatly as the community centre is something for ALL of the community whereas the youth club? The clue is in the title!!! :)

[Bill Fernie]

I think the new community centre is fantastic and everyone should be congratulated for bringing it successfully into being.

PPP set out to do something about the fact that Wick had areas that were listed inthe Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation - a telling factor in helping to gain grants from a number of sources. However you need more than just being able to point to the statistics. The group have done all the hard work to put things in place and the council, HIE and other funders have recognised a good idea when they saw it.

And that is just the start as we try to change the face of Wick. Taken on its own the Pultney Centre is great. Add to it what is now being planned to come to Wick and you are going to see huge changes.

Starting from the order that they will start to arrive are
A refurbishment of Wick Town Hall - £700,000
New Council Offices - £8.5 million
Three new schools - High school and two primaries £57 million

The Nuclear Decommissioning Agency (NDA) are stil committed to bringing the Nuclear Archive to Wick although have not as yet announced a date but we are hopful it will be in the next two or three years.

The redevelopment of Lower Pulteney continues with grants still being awarded for works to buildings - the total spent is now several millions. The marina at the harbour has been a great success.

The community centre is a great project and as it is joined by some of the others listed above the investment will create many jobs in construction for a few years and make Wick and Caithness a much more attractive place to come and live. The improvments are going to gain Wick growing publicity and many aspects of the economy will benefit from the investments finally coming to Wick. The sums involved will be the highest capital spending in any town in Highland and will make Wick one of the few places in Scotland of similar or larger size to have all new schools about the same time.

The new Pultney Centre is a great boost to Wick's social fabric and has already created many jobs taking the PPP payroll over 50 - an amazing achievment in itself becoming one of the larger employers in the area. The partnerships already in place with many organisations and the thrust into social enterprises puts them at the forefront of entrepeneurship in the north.

With potential for increased opportunities for partnerships via the UHI/North Highland College should make it possible to bring improved education and vocational training to Wick. PPP is already delivering a range of courses and we need more.

With new library and much enhanced sports facilities including a new and larger swimming pool Wick will become one of the best places to live for families.

The new Pultney Centre is a huge boost to the town and over the next few years will be part of an ever improving town.

Again well done to PPP and all its directors, committee and members for the development and of course inspired leadership from Pepsix (The leader of the pack) - many towns would love to have it.