History

Ashleigh (Scotland) Ltd appointed as the OCH contractor and the OCH became owners of the site at 45 Main Street Ochiltree.

May Ashleigh (Scotland) Ltd given preferred contractor status.

Tenders returned.

Awarded £352k towards capital build, this funding achieved confirms that the OCH have been awarded £1,830,978 in total, the budgeted cost to build the new facility in Ochiltree. Also in March, OCH Received Building Warrant Approval & tender issued on Public Contracts Scotland.

Design and cost plan review.

Design and cost plan review.

Received Planning consent. Awarded £959k from Big Lottery, £900k towards capital build and £59k towards first three years staff costs. Awarded £170k from Robertson Trust towards capital build. What a month for the OCH, received planning consent, awarded over one million pounds towards the build.

MOU with Princes Foundation for Building Community ended, the trustees were disappointed to be losing this association which has moved the Hub forward towards their vision and would wish to thank the PFBC for the support, direction and commitment given.

Awarded £200k from Leader towards capital build. Also in March, application for £959k from Big Lottery Community Assets.

Design and Cost Plan Review and community consultation.

Engagement of Design Team: Architect Anderson Bell Christie: Quantity Surveyor Brown and Wallace: Construction and ME Consultants Peter Brett Associates

The existing Community Centre and library were demolished.

Awarded £50k from EB Scotland towards fixtures and fitting.

Ochiltree Community Association donated £9,450 to the Hub and was Awarded £50k from Minerals Trust towards the capital build.

Comic Relief awarded £9k to refurb and pay for utilities in proposed OCH Office and Coffee Shop. Also in March, we seen the closure of the community centre and library in Ochiltree. The OCH then rented and refurbed the old post office and turned it into the Ochiltree Community Hub Office and Coffee Shop, one of the most important decisions made, many thanks to those that assisted in the refurb but especially Alan Ross and Willie Corson who gave much of their time and skills.

Signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Princes Foundation for Building Community. The Ochiltree Community Hub was keen to involve the Prince’s Foundation as Client Advisor to provide facilitation and design guidance; to support them in terms of developing the project brief and designs to support their revised funding applications to both the Big Lottery Fund Ayrshire Leader Fund and other funders.

Awarded £40k from Minerals Trust towards the capital build, our first award. Also in June, Big Lottery confirmed that we were unsuccessful in our application, but suggested that we apply again in the future as our project had merit.

Apply to Big Lottery Growing Community Assets for £1m

The OCFSG was disbanded as a new legal entity and charitable body had to be established in order to take the project forward and undertake the legal “Asset Transfer” of the land, so 5 members of the OCFSG then applied to OSCR for charitable status as a SCIO called “Ochiltree Community Hub” and on October 7th, “Ochiltree Community Hub” charity number SC 045152 was legally “born”!

Following the survey results, a final public meeting was called on June 6th where the OCFSG would present their findings to the local community, and was effectively the go/don’t go getting for the whole project. A vote was taken at the meeting and it was devised that in the light of the huge support from the Community shown by the survey reports that the project was definitely an emphatic “Go!” Many people supported the work done so far and wanted to turn the Community’s “vision” of a fantastic facility for all ages within Ochiltree and the surrounding area in to a reality. The option of a brand new purpose-built “combined” building was decided as the most sustainable way forward.

Several months later, over 300 Community Survey responses were collected and then complied into a comprehensive report produced by a volunteer helper which showed a near unanimous desire for Community facilities within the village along with wide range of facilities to support them such as fitness classes and other health initiatives, IT facilities, cinema, cafe and a shared social space for the Community to get together.

In order to ascertain what the Community wanted in terms of the facility, a survey was sent to every home in the Parish. During the consultation phase, the Community were always kept involved and informed with meetings and newsletters via our now regular bi-monthly “OCH-EYE” bulletin. A Q&A sheet was also sent out to each home in the Parish.

The Group worked with the Council, Architects, Surveyors, Designers and other Consultants in order to achieve what the Community thought was the most suitable and sustainable outcome for the Village. Help and support funding was given from East Ayrshire Council in the form of grants as well as soft support from their “Vibrant Communities” Team. As well as a very generous start up grant form the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

The Steering Group worked very hard, looking at a multitude of options for the Village Community Facilities from taking the facilities as they were, renovating them, building something new or indeed doing nothing at all if it was shown that it wasn’t sustainable or the Community wasn’t interested. At this time, some members also got involved with the running of the Community Centre via the Community Association in order to gain experience running a facility as well as organising events such as fun days, which were a great success.