Opened in Spring 2021
We have been using our current huts for around 50 years, when we were given them following their use on construction projects in the centre of Manchester in the 1960s. They have now reached the end of their lives, and are beyond economic repair.
In early 2018, we started to develop plans for a new hut to meet the needs of the next generations of Scouts, as well as serving as a community resource.
In June 2018 we were granted planning permission for the new hut and we submitted an application for grant funding to the Garfield Weston Foundation. In October, we were informed that we had been awarded the full £150,000 we had asked for. Since then we have received several other large grants and we have now raised £240,000 towards our overall target of £270,000 to build and fit out the new hut, and do associated works to site access and landscaping.
The Building Programme
Work on the building of our new hut begins at the end of June 2019 and we hope to open the new hut in April 2021 after delays in construction due to Covid-19. There are three phases to the work:
- Phase 1: Demolition of the old huts, ground clearance and preparing the foundations for the new hut. This will last until late July 2020.
- Phase 2: Erecting the new hut. This is a Wikihouse design, and the hut will be delivered as a large number of pre-cut plywood sheets, which will be assembled into the sections of the hut by volunteers over two weekends in August. The hut will be built out of these sections by the Hut contractor, who will also wrap the building in a waterproof membrane.
- Phase 3: Roofing, cladding and fit-out. This will turn the wooden structure into a working Scout hut, including all the internal panelling, wiring, plumbing and decoration. We are still raising money to complete all the tasks for this stage.
While this work was underway, our groups will continue to meet on different sites. One of those was 2/249th who we now have combine with.
