Thanks to the fundraising efforts of the late Brian Tuckwell and his friend Carl Hale Vision 21 bought it very first property in 2021. It is a small, rundown workshop in the St Paul’s area of the Cheltenham, but we have big ideas for it.
Ideally, we will develop it into an Eco-hub:
• A community space in which people can meet to discuss environmental issues
• A place where workshops, demonstrations and events can be held
• A knowledge bank and resource for all to use
• Become the future home of Planet Cheltenham.
When it comes to renovating the building, we have looked at what we want to do in it, how it could be best used and how we make the best use of space and we have appointed an architect (Void: Projects) to draw up a design and obtain planning permission. Below is an artistic impression of what we may be able to achieve when sufficient funds become available.
Luckily enough, the foundations are sufficient depth and structure to allow us to build upwards and we have chosen to raise the height of the roof, so that we can put a second storey on to the building. It means we will be removing the old doors, which are currently boarded up and taking one of the adjacent wall away.
In order to retain and utilise some of the embedded energy present in the existing construction, we will retain two walls and the concrete floor.
Naturally, we want to build it using sustainable materials and to incorporate a number of environmentally friendly features such as insulation, solar PV, rainwater catchment for grey water re-use, LED lighting and electric heating in order to make the future management and running of the building as sustainable as possible.