Hopes hall work to begin this year
Committee working hard on refurbishment plans
The Puahue Community Hall committee has exciting plans to update, renovate and give the hall some muchneeded love and repair. The refurbishment work relies entirely on fundraising and donations as the committee isn’t able to seek funding for capital works from the council or the Ministry of Education — so although progress might seem slow, behind the scenes significant work is being put in.
Committee members have engaged the Greenstone Group to project manage the refurbishment, appointed Architecto to develop preliminary and detailed designs, and have maintained regular contact with the Waipa¯ Community Board (Waipa¯ District Council) to explore ways in which they can advocate and support the project.
In November, the project got a donation of $86,900 from the Puahue Cookbook Committee after it sold out of cookbooks.
Funding applications to G & J Gallagher Foundation, Waikato Farmers Trust and Grassroots Trust for the project have also been successful.
The Puahue Stock Scheme continues to make a sizeable annual donation to the project and the hall car park was resurfaced by KBL Civil.
The committee is grateful for their support. The council has granted the project building consent and the job has now gone to tender as the committee negotiates the finer details of a contract with the preferred main contractor. It hopes to make an announcement this month or in April.
Other third party funding applications are also in the works.
All of this behind-the-scenes work is important to ensure that the hall committee can meet the community objectives and complete the renovations.
They want to make sure the funding is locked in before building works starts, which at this stage is expected this year.
The project has been a victim of Covid too — progress hasn’t been at the pace hoped, and spiralling labour and material costs have inflated the budget.
But the Puahue Community Hall committee remains committed to completing this project and ensuring that the community and school have a hall that meets their collective needs now, and in the future.