Huntly Heart Business Plan April 2019 This Business Plan is part vision, and part pragmatic assessment of how to realise it. It has been inspired and shaped by the enthusiasm, commitment and suggestions of the community champions of this project, but tempered with the reality of delivering a project of scale and ambition. Our ambitions are bold and, we believe, create an exciting stimulus for the activities that can take place within the repurposed building. It will create a revitalised community asset for the town and, more importantly, help breathe new cultural, economic and social life into our town centre. Board of Deveron Projects This Business Plan is prepared and presented by the Board of Deveron Projects and outlines their vision and aspirations for a new creative, community space in Huntly - and provides an achievable solution to how these might be realised effectively. It has received key input and advice from Aberdeenshire Council, and Huntly and District Development Trust. It has been coordinated with the external assistance of Creative Services (Scotland) Ltd. Contents Page Executive Summary 1 1 Strategic Vision 7 - The Vision - Integration with Aims and Objectives - Delivering the Vision 2 The Objectives 12 - Objectives - Impact and Benefit 3 The Context 15 - Huntly - Deveron Projects - Background to the Project - Options Appraisal - Displacement 4 Demand/Market 27 - Local: Priorities - Community Consultation - AB54 - Summary of Demand 5 The Building 34 - Building Elements - Assessment of Current Building Condition and Valuation - Architectural Solution and Approach - Planning Permissions and Consents 6 The Operation 46 - Operation - Governance - Monitoring and Evaluation 7 Capital Costs and Funding 52 - Capital Costs - Sources of Funding 8 Income and Expenditure 55 - Annual Operation - One-off Transitional Costs - Income - 5-Year Projection 9 Risk 68 - Contingency - Risk Table Appendices A Deveron Projects - Mission, Aims and Objectives B Deveron Projects – Vision and Programme C Background Information on No.11 café D Huntly Vision for 2030 – Consultation Summary E Community Response – Uses of Square Deal F Indicative Programme of Activity G 22-23 The Square, Huntly – Valuation H Deveron Projects - Current Board of Directors I Deveron Projects – Annual Accounts 2017-18 J Letters of Support Submitting an idea for how 22-23 The Square, Huntly might be brought back to life, one of over 100 submitted by the community in December 2018 [see Appendix E] What can we make of this place? After 20 years of development projects in Huntly we have outgrown our current building resources to serve our community – we need space for interns and artists; a fit-for-purpose space for regular events; a home for our town-to-garden initiative; and flexible space to incubate ideas and people. We’ve found an ideal solution – watch the short film (click link) to get an idea of what we can make of this ideal place. Watch our short film HERE to find out! Executive Summary We want to create Huntly Heart – a community asset for our town that embodies the spirit of the work we do, assists with regeneration, and supports the creativity of local people to find sustainable ways of enjoying and growing their community. Deveron Projects is a community organisation based in Huntly, Aberdeenshire. We work with people from a large variety of backgrounds on a wide range of projects of community concern. We work under the principle of the town is the venue through projects that relate to the community, history, identity and environment of the town of Huntly and its surrounding AB54 area with multiple community partners for activities that bring together the people and places in our community. Huntly Heart will be an incubator of ideas and social purpose that helps deliver a more inclusive town with accessible, sustainable community and cultural opportunities for all its citizens, by providing a base for our resident artists, thinkers, and associated activities. It will create a space in the centre of Huntly that brings an existing building back into active public use, improves the amenity of the town generally, and provides an appropriate base for the diverse range of activities our organisation requires to fulfil our objectives and the potential of our creative team and associates. Huntly Heart Business Plan – page 1 Huntly Heart will be operated by Deveron Projects and our associates, residents, and interns, to deliver transformational change to the community and the life of individuals, through access to new social, cultural and economic opportunities currently unavailable to them. Huntly Heart will be located in the long-empty (since 2012) ‘Square Deal’ shop in the town square, along with its associated residential accommodation, storage and workshops spaces, garden and street frontage, which will be refurbished and repurposed to create a sustainable focal point for the town of Huntly and surrounding area. Huntly Heart’s objectives are economic, social and cultural, and complement and support the existing broad regeneration initiatives in, and planned for, the town. Deveron Projects is keenly aware of possible displacement of activity within the town centre, so the proposed activities have been designed to complement and enhance current provisions. The town, and its centre in particular, has been negatively affected by the changing global economic climate, and this project will help increase footfall to the town centre. Café and restaurant provision in large venues nearer the A96 has resulted in less car and foot traffic to the town centre – as a consequence there is no centrally located social or cultural gathering space: Huntly Heart will provide this. Huntly Heart will be delivered and operated by Deveron Projects (DP), an active partner in the Huntly Town Team, who have delivered community projects in the AB54 and Aberdeenshire area since 1995, and have a very successful track record in delivering tangible outcomes, including people involvement, project management, involving partners and levering other financial resources. Huntly Heart Business Plan – page 2 Huntly Heart will allow DP to make practical interventions to help deliver its objectives – town regeneration, and ways to deal with social issues in Huntly such as empty shops, rural isolation and youth unemployment through promoting sustainability and local food economy - this has been our modus operandi for many years. By developing the property to include a range of versatile spaces – workshop, accommodation, street-front multi-purpose gathering, retail and making - Huntly Heart will meet a number of identified needs that span both the local community in Huntly and the community in AB54 more broadly, enabling it to: play a leading role in the regeneration of the town centre meet demand for low-cost, informal and child friendly community space provide training opportunities to learn skills satisfy the identified need for healthy, affordable food choices in Huntly actively engage with local and national targets on sustainability generate income that can be recycled in the town, supporting jobs and retaining people We anticipate a seasonal programme of events and activities that will vary in detail each year, although with core components, in one form or another i.e. a programme of cultural activity, a food offer, a social enterprise presence, and such like. The various spatial elements required for the building have been designed to match the demand and purposes this requires - an indicative Programme of Activity shows how these spaces may operate – they are in five categories, namely: Living Room The Town’s Garden Work Room Thinking Space Storage Huntly Heart Business Plan – page 3 Following an options appraisal of several properties, Square Deal clearly presents the option that can deliver the desired objectives most effectively. It provides a more flexible and comprehensive solution for DP’s various activities, with spaces that are more suited for purpose, have greater visibility and accessibility to the public, and create more/better opportunities to generate income streams. Facility Management will be absorbed into the duties of DP’s current staffing structure, which is acknowledged by Creative Scotland and other partners to be a dedicated and well trained team. Additional services, such as cleaning and maintenance, may be outsourced, and from year 3 we will have a dedicated p.t. booking/admin post. We enjoy a close working relationship with Huntly and District Development Trust (HDDT) and share their strategic objectives. They are planning to reopen another property on the Square1 - there is a synergy in social objectives between the two initiatives and an opportunity to share some of the marketing and operation of the two buildings – there are several shared facility management issues that a joint approach will make more financially efficient. Huntly Heart will benefit from being part of DP’s well-established and extremely well- managed financial operation, which has an unblemished track record in reporting to funders and other stakeholders. The current valuation for the entire property at 22-23 The Square, Huntly (Square Deal) is £260,000. A further £199,992 will be required to make additions and refurbishments, with one-off transitional costs of £45,0002. Acquisition costs are £5000, professional fees £15,000, management costs £14,400 and we have allowed for a cost of £15,000 to enable collaboration with local craftspeople and artists to create a truly transformational space for Huntly. A total capital cost of £554,392 is anticipated. 1 This HDDT project is subject to application, Huntly Heart is designed to be complementary to its activities 2 Scope of works completed in collaboration with Jill Andrews RIAS and John Pascoe CQS Huntly Heart Business Plan – page 4 We are seeking investment from the Scottish Land Fund as our primary source of capital funding to enable the purchase of this asset. To bring the building up to standard, and to deliver transformational change for Huntly town centre, we are seeking an additional £213,592 investment from the Aberdeenshire Town Centre Fund.