Regeneration of the Clubhouse
The only Old College asset which cries out for change is the Clubhouse. Let’s do it! Here’s how.
Latest Updates
Our plans for regenerating the Clubhouse are in good shape and well advanced. BSA, the Club’s appointed Architects, and our Project Steering Group have been consulting members since the presentation in February. Out of this process came many useful ideas and suggestions, which have been incorporated into the scheme. This included input from our recently appointed consultant mechanical and electrical engineers.
An updated design has now been approved by the Club Committee. BSA can now finalise the extensive work required by Southwark, to validate an application for planning consent on Metropolitan Open Land (MOL). We aim to be in a position to submit our planning application, by late August/early September. The Club Committee and BSA are reasonably confident that the proposals will be granted consent based on advice we obtained from Southwark during a pre-application consultation. However, the process is likely to take 3 or 4 months, because all applications on an MOL site must go to Southwark’s planning committee, which means having to queue for a slot in what is often a crowded agenda.
Once we have planning consent, we will be in a better position to invite competitive tenders from builder/contractors. It is only then that we will have firm enough costings to call an Extraordinary General Meeting of Members (‘EGM’) to approve the project construction.
Design
The latest floor layout is below. Although the volume of the new annex and external appearance remain much as it was when it was presented in February, the main changes to the internal layouts are that:
- The Clubhouse social area will be one open space and there will be no electrical cupboard, which will now be incorporated in a dedicated plantroom. To minimise disruption to the members’ communal area, we will be able to arrange the space so that there can be a junior area with table tennis and soft seating and a remote working area;
- The changing areas have been tweaked to improve efficiency and flexibility;
- A plantroom to house the engineering equipment and services has been added. We are in discussions with utilities with a view to replacing the current three mains supplies to the site, with one three phase supply. This should allow a more efficient and versatile source of power for all our electrical equipment, from lighting (including court floodlighting), to ventilation, to heating (and cooling) of spaces and hot water for showers, handwashing and kitchen. This will also give us a little more space in the clubroom.
For the planning permission we have covered as much as we need to. At this stage we don’t need to finalise how we will shade the patio or exactly what will be in the new kitchen/bar. However, there has been considerable discussion on those aspects so we know that the new infrastructure will support shading, appliances etc. and we can make informed decisions when the time is right (and we know what we can spend).
Funding
The Club is starting from a strong financial position with circa £350,000 is in the bank available for this project. However, there will still be a funding gap. At this stage we don’t know how much that will be and when the construction costs will need to be paid.
To make up the difference we will welcome donations that will be appropriately recognized – more to come on this. To give your donations greater “bang for the buck” we can give the benefit of gift aid*. We will also be applying for available grants from organisations like Sports England but expect any funds received to be modest.
For the balance, we had initially requested prepayment of annual subscriptions for 2026 & 2027. However, this made assumptions about costs and timing that could turn out to be significantly different in practice. It was felt that the Club could not take that financial risk. Accordingly, we are moving towards asking all members to pay an additional levy or subscription. We also hope to spread this ‘Regeneration Levy’ over two or more tranches that coincide with major payments. The benefit of this approach is that the amounts requested will be directly linked to the latest and best estimate of the project’s costs. Further, as the Clubhouse Regeneration will benefit all members, we are proposing that it applies to all members in a similar way as the annual subscription and therefore this Regeneration Levy seems a fair and reasonable way to proceed. It is intended that this funding approach will be put forward for member approval along with the construction costs.
The proposed levies will be based on your category of membership similar to the Annual Subscription Payment and will have appropriate financial hardship exceptions. We will not levy junior members. Following completion of the Clubhouse Regeneration, we would hope the Club can give members reduced subscriptions in the future. However, that will depend on the Club’s financial position after the project is complete and therefore would be a decision of a future Club Committee.
If you have any queries or feedback on this or other matters then please don’t hesitate to contact Bob Henderson, Charlotte Ireson, Bernard Stillwell, Hande Reardon, John Barton, Virunee Viravong, Manjit Roseghini, or me, Caroline Beck.
* If you are a UK taxpayer and make a donation of £100 or more then, as we are an HMRC registered Community Amateur Sports Club or CASC, the Club can make your donation go further under the HMRC’s Gift Aid Scheme. Further details will be sent to eligible donors.