Open Day on Monday 1st May 1.30pm – 4.30pm
Come and have a good look around and marvel at our fabulous venue. Refreshments and entertainment are all free so do drop in and say hello! Click here to find out more…
Friday 28th April
More planting in the flower beds around the site.
We still need to buy more plants to complete the scheme and are looking for donations to fund this.
Wednesday 26th April
In advance of our Celebration Event, our volunteers have done a fine job of sprucing up the flower bed in the Community Garden.
Tuesday 25th April
Four cherry trees have now been planted in the grounds, two in the front by the High Street wall and two in the car park at the back of the Orchard Hall.
Monday 10th April
The outside of the Cherry Hall is now complete and ready for its close up!
Saturday 18th March
The interior of the Cherry Hall is now complete, we just have a few snagging queries left to sort out.
Thursday 16th March
Dick and Keith on the steps – we’re nearly there!
Tuesday 14th March
The interior of the Cherry Hall is all but complete and work has started to resurface the High Street car park. First bookings for the new Cherry Hall are from 24th April and our Celebration Event is planned for 1st May!
Monday 13th March
The new entrance to the Cherry Hall is coming along nicely and the steps are being created.
Thursday 9th February
Decorating the inside of the Cherry Hall has begun and the new Committee Room is starting to take shape.
The store cupboard is already proving extremely useful as the new chairs have arrived – all 160 of them!
Wednesday 1st February 2017
Scaffolding is down as the roof is finished and the cladding has all gone up.
Christmas 2016
Phase 2 is now well under-way and work has begun on the windows, roof and insulation of the Old Hall.
The old kitchen is being remodelled into a new Committee Room and there are new storage cupboards going in where the old toilets used to be.
Once complete, the renovated Old Hall will be renamed “Cherry Hall” and the whole complex will continue to be “Harwell Village Hall”.
In the Orchard Hall, we are pleased to announce that the new
retractable seating has been installed and looks most splendid!
Thursday 27th October
The Old Hall is now handed over to the builders for the start of Phase 2 and at the moment they are predicting a completion date of the end of February. However, that date will depend heavily on the weather we get over the coming months and a severe winter with heavy snow would cause a delay. We will keep you as up to date as possible so watch this space!
Saturday 22nd October
The wedding was a wonderful success! Here is the Orchard Hall ready to receive the guests:
Friday 21st October – Handover of Phase 1
At last, the new Orchard Hall has been handed to the trustees and is due to have it’s first event tomorrow!
Just cast your minds back a year to see how far we have come….
Freeman Hall, 19th October 2015.
Thursday 29th September
The car park to the rear of the hall is taking shape…
… and the new bicycle racks have been put in place.
Friday 16th September
Work continues on the hall while we wait for the new electricity
meter to be connected.
Wednesday 24th August
Despite the delays to the New Hall, we have seen some progress over the summer in the Old Hall ahead of the official start of Phase 2
refurbishment.
Door and hatch into new kitchen from the Old Hall with new
cupboard (right) and doors through to the New Hall (left).
We have also seen progress in the New Hall:
The new Parish Council Office with carpet!
Storage cupboards being fitted to the New Hall
Lighting strips being installed in the New Hall
Wednesday 17th August
Open Afternoon delayed! There have been further delays to the project and the New Hall will not be ready in time for the proposed handover event on 20th August. The Trustees and our Architect, Richard Potter are closely monitoring the situation and challenging the builder to move the project forward.
As soon as we have more information, we will update you.
Some of the trustees were able to visit the site today to try out some chair options and we have some more pictures of the interior for you.
Testing chairs
Inside the hall – screen end
Inside the hall – retractable seating end
Foyer – towards main entrance
Foyer – from main entrance
Thursday 11th August
Main Entrance coming together
Walls prepared for rendering
Work continues on the garden area.
Saturday 2nd July
The Trustees got another chance to look round the inside of the new hall and see the progress that has been made to date:
Inside the New Hall
Kitchen
Foyer – looking towards the kitchen
Foyer looking towards the main entrance.
Monday 30th May
Further Minor Disruption: On 31st May and 1st June the builders will move the temporary wall by the former stage area slightly further into the Old Hall to enable them to construct the new permanent
internal wall without disturbing users.
As always, if you have concerns, please contact Keith Beswick on 01235 835338 or keith@kbeswick.co.uk.
Saturday 21st May
Building work is continuing – the high-level windows have been
installed in the New Hall and the first fix and internal plumbing work is well under way.
The Fun Club toy shed has been moved* and the nearby storage room emptied so work can begin on the new toilets. Our thanks to Fun Club, the Wood Turners and Short Mat Bowls for relocating their equipment and we apologise for any inconvenience.
*The disabled car parking space is temporarily unavailable and we ask our disabled users to bear with us – as soon as the New Hall is ready, you will have access to two new spaces in the rear car park.
Today, the Trustees were invited on a guided tour of the new extension – here are some of the photos:
Looking at the New Hall from Westfield.
The Garden Area.
Air conditioning installed.
Looking to where the retractable seating will be installed.
The Plant Room!
Friday 22nd April
And the first windows are in!
Thursday 21st April
The trench in the New Hall back garden is ready for the concrete to support the back wall:
Wednesday 20th April
Here is a sneak peak inside the new entrance foyer with Kath giving us some scale perspective:
And here is an update on progress inside the New Hall, where they are busy with the first fix electrics:
Saturday 2nd April
We are progressing well with the link building that connects our old Main Hall to the New Hall. Here you can see the two high windows which will bring light into the new kitchen which will be situated where the old stage once was:
And work has also started on the new garden to the rear of the New Hall. First they must level the ground:
Wednesday 9th March 2016
Here is another new time lapse video of the hall – the roof is now completely tiled!
Monday 7th March 2016
The tiles are going on the back of roof now.
Friday 4th March 2016
The tiles are going on to the front of the roof. What a wonderful blue sky!
Friday 26th February 2016
After our monthly progress meeting with the Architect and Builders, Trustee Mike Fox-Davies visited site and got a rare look at the inside of the new hall. As you can see, it will be a fabulous space when it’s finished!
Tuesday 23rd February
Here you can see the rear of the roof being prepared for tiling.
Over the last few weeks the metal roof has gone on to the new hall and been visible from the High Street. This will be clad with tiles to match the roof on the Main Hall.
Friday 1st January 2016
Here is the latest time lapse video of the build progress – enjoy!
Thursday 31st December
A very happy new year to you all – the building work is progressing well.
The steel work for the new hall looks completed and some block work has been started.
Here’s looking forward to the grand opening and thank you to the users for your patience and to all of you who have helped so
brilliantly to make the project reality. We are almost there but there is still another 20% of the money to raise!!
Happy New Year
Keith Beswick
Chair, Harwell Village Hall Trustees.
Friday 18th December
The shell is nearly complete! From today work stops for Christmas and restarts in the New Year.
Tuesday 15th December
Exciting times – the steelwork is going up and we are ahead of
schedule!
The Trustees hope the building work has not disturbed you too much and thank you for your perseverance. It will be worth it when the new facilities open.
Thursday 10th December
Final preparations are made ready for the steelwork to go in.
Friday 4th December
Work is progressing. The image shows the footings for the new hall. Steelwork is expected to arrive at the end of next week and should be erected before the builders start their Christmas break on the 18th.
Wednesday 2nd December
The trenches are dug and ready for the concrete to be poured.
Tuesday 24th November
The site for the new hall is being lowered by about 3 feet to bring the new hall in line with the original one and then the footings will be dug in the next week.
Click here to see a time-lapse video of the demolition.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Welcome to our new post! We will bringing you updates on a
regular basis as things move forward with the Redevelopment Building Work.
As you can see, quite a lot has already happened since Day 1 on 19th October so we have started a diary to record this and that we will add to so you can see the progress. From time to time there will also be some time-lapse video clips to show!
Saturday 31st October
Build site board is erected and fencing put in place.
Monday 9th November
A tent is erected to contain the asbestos as it is removed from the Freeman Hall
Friday 13th November
Clearing the interior of the Freeman Hall
Monday 16th November
A digger arrived on site and began taking down the Freeman Hall
Sunday 22nd November
The Craft Fair went ahead in the Hall with a good turnout, unaffected by the build. Here are a couple of photos of the new cleared site where the Freeman Hall used to be:
And the remains of the link to the Main Hall:
The site for the new hall will now be lowered by about 3 feet to bring the new hall in line with the original one and then the footings will be dug in the next week.