How to procure your building

With over 65% of money for Phase 1 gathered, and Planning Permission for Wiltshire Council and the Church of England, its time to consider how we get St.John's Place built.
So far we have been using Paul Stevens Architects to draw up plans and talk to conservation bodies, but there is still a long way to go. We need to do detail drawings which need to pass Building Regulations, drawings have to be prepared to go to tender and some choosing between who we ask to bid and how we choose between them. Then the building contract needs to be administered, with attendant Health and Safety requirements and the builders paid once the work is checked.
PSA have quoted for this work, but as a registered charity it is good to show that we are getting value for money and proceeding prudently at every stage. So last week we interviewed 2 firms of Building Surveyors for the same work. These people deal with costings and builders daily and are renown for keeping a tight eye on the budget. It will give us a good comparison of who to take on to deliver St.John's Place. We hope to hear from them this week and make a decision on who will take on the project before the end of November. Remember, we're expecting to start work in April and move in in time for September 2015, so we've got to keep moving quite fast!

Local Giving

They're giving us money!

Sometimes you can't believe the way the world works! The government have promised to match fund anything given (up to £10) on the local giving website.
And then Wilts Community Foundation (bless 'em) have also promised to donate a further £10.

So basically if you go to www.localgiving.com/stjohnsplace and donate £10, we'll get £30 in return! (and even more if you can gift-aid it).

Here's the catch - the government only put £1.5 million into this scheme, and all the other cunning charities have been doing this for ages, and we've only just caught up, so most of the money is gone. In fact there's less than £100,000 left. So be quick, only give a tenner, and we'll be another step closer to making St.Johns a reality!