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Update on Club Development

Update on Club Development

Richard Ordidge28 Oct 2016 - 14:12
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https://www.horshamrufc.com/ne

Here is the up to date position on the development proposals for Horsham Rugby Club

Dear Club Member

You will no doubt have been aware that a considerable amount of time and effort has been undertaken by a number of volunteers across the club over the last few months to determine the best development programme for the club over the next few years. After the meeting in July a small team undertook to provide a feasibility study on the likely achievability of the club being able to raise sufficient funds to construct a brand new clubhouse next to the Field of Dreams the project to have commenced by 30th June 2017 and to have been completed by 30th June 2018. The results of that feasibility study have been provided to the Management Committee and have been considered along with other developmental strategies available to the club. The summary of those strategies is as follows :-

New Clubhouse

The team identified a new contractor with the right experience and organisation to be able to deliver a high class clubhouse next to the Field of Dreams. After a series of meetings a fixed price quote inclusive of VAT came in at £1.4M. There would be some additional works that the club would need to undertake mainly around the provision of utilities, water and waste removal. The estimated cost of these was £0.2M bring the total for a new clubhouse to £1.6M at todays prices. Due to the time available the team were not able to progress on the likelihood of being able to raise these significant sums but did identify a number of potential opportunities that could be pursued.

The summary of the feasibility study was that it was not possible to commit to delivering a new clubhouse where the project had commenced by 30th June 2017 and was completed by 30th June 2018. This timeframe was essential to retain RFU / Sport England support and funding. However, with the usual risks of not being able to achieve the required funding / the uncertainty over future pricing for a new clubhouse the team felt that over a minimum 5 year period it might be possible to raise the required funding with construction following shortly thereafter.

RFU Funded AGP (Artificial Grass Pitch)

For most members this will be new news. The background to this opportunity is that the RFU are looking to fully fund and build 60 new AGP rugby pitches across the country to be built in 2 phases either Summer 2017 or Summer 2018. At the end of July the club were advised of this opportunity and decided that it would be a huge benefit to the club if we were successful so we applied to be one of the 60 clubs to receive a new AGP. It would provide the potential opportunity for revenue growth / development of a wider community sports and schools relationship and allow us to move forward with the potential development of disabled sport in addition to continued growth of our girls section and the potential introduction of women's rugby. The provision of disabled sport is becoming a key requirement in applications for various developmental grants and loans from charitable bodies.

One of the key criteria for eligibility to the scheme was that clubs should have facilities capable of holding mixed sex events with schools and other organisations. The current facilities at the club are non compliant with this requirement.

Since expressing our interest the club has progressed through 4 separate stages and is now on a short list for one of these new pitches. Detailed discussions with the RFU are scheduled to take place over the coming weeks and we hope to hear that we have been allocated a new pitch towards the end of Q1 next year.

Changing Rooms

Back in July the club had a project on the table to construct 3 new changing rooms costing over £500k. Since then in parallel to the excellent work of the team working on the clubhouse feasibility we have engaged with the same contractor and received fixed price quotes to build either a 4 changing room block or a 6 changing room block albeit with only 4 fitted out. Based on the current level of funding today we have sufficient funds to build the 4 changing room block but would need to continue to fund raise in order to construct the larger building.

Redevelopment of our Existing Clubhouse

As part of the feedback we received in the Summer we recognise that we have a crucial need to expand the social spaces available to the club especially on a Sunday morning. We would therefore propose a rolling modular programme delivering improvements in stages starting with the priority of additional capacity to provide a greater degree of comfort on a Sunday morning and to allow greater flexibility to maximise use of the facility to outside hirers incorporating the Bill Grant Room and the existing changing room space into a more comfortable social environment. However, the ability to progress this refurbishment programme will be entirely dependent upon the funds available at the time we really need to undertake the improvements.

The club Management Committee met to discuss all the work that has been done and to agree a way forward for the future development of the club considering all sections of the club and the club as a whole. After a robust discussion around all the issues and potential ways forward the almost unanimous decision of the Management Committee was that we would move forward as follows :-

1) That the club would continue to actively pursue the option of acquiring a new RFU funded AGP pitch to facilitate revenue growth, greater opportunity for wider community involvement with the club, potential for developing disabled sports and the access to funding that this provides and to cement our close relationship with the RFU.

2) Given that a new clubhouse could not be completed by the 30th June 2018 timeframe originally envisaged the club would move forward with constructing a new 4 changing room block using the lower fixed price quote from the contractor identified by the clubhouse team. This allows us to retain the RFU / Sport England Funding, continue to pursue the acquisition of a new AGP pitch with the associated benefits, facilitates the continued development of girls and women's rugby and also allows our growing Touch Tigers section to host bigger and more prestigious tournaments to heighten our profile in this area. With the exception of getting formal RFU approval for the changed design we have the funding / cash to move forward with this now.

3) Taking on board the members desire for more social spaces we would continue to aggressively fund raise and I understand considerable efforts are already being put in place to raise funds. This separate fund would be used to provide for the refurbishment of the existing clubhouse space. The aim would be to co-ordinate this development with the construction of the new changing rooms and the new AGP pitch. There have been a number of suggestions already made as to what we could change and I would welcome any suggestions from members as to what the interior of the club should look like going forwards. Additionally the Management Committee will commission a survey of members to solicit feedback on what should happen to the clubhouse.

4) As part of the discussions with the contractor around the design of the new changing room block we have ensured that it is possible to come back at a later date and add additional changing rooms. As funds permit the Management Committee will be following up on this option.

Over the last 5 months a large number of people have devoted significant amounts of time looking into all these issues and I really thank them for their efforts its been really encouraging to see so many people coming to the fore to help drive the club forward. Now we have agreed a plan to move forward there is an opportunity for those with the desire and / or relevant skills to come forward and help us manage and deliver the new AGP pitch and also the programme of refurbishments for the existing clubhouse. If anyone feels they would like to help the club navigate their way through this process please contact myself or any member of the Management Committee for an initial conversation we will be more than happy to welcome you.

The Management Committee believe that this is the best way in which we can move the club forward in the immediate future to generate incremental revenues / provide greater facilities and comfort to the members and grow the footprint of the club within the wider community with any degree of certainty. I hope I can count on the support of all members to continue to drive fundraising efforts as we look to develop new social spaces within our clubhouse having freed up the existing changing room space for other uses.

Alan Croucher
Chairman

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