Name of project: Community Meeting Space
We are seeking funding for a Community Meeting Space at our Allotment site in north London.
This new Space will become the heart of our community – a place where plot holders and the wider community can meet, hold meetings, socialise, and learn about horticulture, sustainability and the environment. It will be a gathering point, a place of shelter and warmth, where tea can be made and our HQ when we hold our annual events such as the potato day, plants sales and harvest festival - all of which are open to the general public and local community.
Our Association is run entirely by volunteers for the benefit of a wide range of people of all ages and ethnicity who want to grow their own vegetables to keep healthy and energetic.
We have been raising funds for a number of years and discussing the project with plot holders since the site became vacant. We have held meetings with our community, discussed designs, obtained feedback on drawings and absorbed lots of their ideas. We see this as the start of something new and the allotment community will continue to be consulted and involved in developing the direction of the project as it progresses.
Plot holders have identified several key facilities they would like to see in the new building. They particularly want a kitchen area so that we can provide hot drinks every Sunday and have somewhere to prepare food for our community get-togethers. They also want the building to have wheel chair access and be warm in winter. They have also identified a wealth of experience and expertise within the allotment community, for example, on organic growing, bee keeping, and community food production, and want a dedicated meeting space in which to share such knowledge throughout the year.
Our project is to construct a new building to meet these identified needs. We will spend the grant on an 8x5metre steel structure that has been designed to our needs by a volunteer architect. The new building will sit on a specially laid concrete slab to make it safe and water tight. We will buy in specific building expertise, but our community will volunteer to carry out the rest of the work, including landscaping of the site to make the whole area around the building an integral part of the community hub.
Once construction is complete, volunteers will fit out the building, which will include the install of a kitchenette, connecting the mains water supply and fitting an environmentally compliant wood burning stove. We have just been granted planning permission by Haringey Council for our new social space.
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