We’re currently working out the immediate challenges of the building, working with Croydon Council to address legacy maintenance issues that need to be urgently resolved.
There is over £200,000 of overdue maintenance and improvement works needed to the building and grounds; these numbers are taken from a survey conducted in 2020, some of which, we feel, should not be our responsibility to deal with.
We’re working through a new assessment of the building’s condition prior to negotiating a lease with Croydon Council. At the point we sign a lease, repairs and maintenance will be our sole responsibility.
The ‘Fun’ Stuff!?!
A Collective are grateful for a generous donation of £3,000 from our clients: the property company Chancery Gate and their main contractors Magrock.
We plan to use this money to kick off four projects:
Renovating the ‘Staff Room’ as a Small Group/Therapy Room
Basic redecoration of this downstairs room, including repainting, cleaning the floor and fitting a new kitchenette. This room has lovely light and is quite private; by bringing it up to a more modern and welcoming standard, we are hoping to rent it to small groups and independent therapists to give us a small additional revenue stream.
We’re looking for willing volunteers to clean and paint, plan, purchase and refit the kitchenette and help with project management. Please contact us if you would like to get involved!
The Foundations of a Community Garden
Transforming the green space at the back of the library (adjacent to Sanderstead Hill and the United Reformed Church) to create an accessible community garden with a shed, growing beds, seating and children’s muddy play area. We need to improving the fencing to secure this area, lay a small area of hard surface and buy a decent workshop/shed. We’re also looking to source sleepers to create raised beds, develop our composting area, add some decking, and more!
If you have green fingers (or you’d like to) or you’re handy with planning and landscaping, or sourcing materials and organising people, we’d love to hear from you – please get in touch.
Upgrading The Cleaners Cupboard
We need to change the use of this space for cleaning art materials post workshops too. We need better storage for all the cleaning materials and hazardous chemicals and then it urgently needs a new sink (the current one has lost all its ceramic surface) with a better cupboard underneath; plus we’d like to add some draining rack shelves over the sink so this is more of a functional artists clean up zone.
If you are, or know, a plumber who could gift us some time, we can get all the materials! We also need some helping hands to clean, repaint and then tidy and restock supplies. If this sounds like your thing – please get in touch.
Turning the Little Office into a Staff/Volunteers Bolthole
The little downstairs “managers office” will be our staff/volunteer space. Walls and ceiling need filling and repainting with a moisture-resistant paint, and we’d like to put on skirting board so it has a nicer more welcoming ‘quiet room’ feel. Cupboard that protects the mains electricity meters and switches (and whatnots!) needs adapting – some basic joinery work and replacing doors and locks to be safe and secure, plus we’d ideally like some storage shelves. With a largely neurodivergent team, we need a welcoming place for people to decompress/escape to.
Unfortunately it’s just been confirmed that we have rising damp in this room and the corridor/stairs so we will need to have that addressed first.