Gavinton, Fogo & Polwarth Village Hall

1. How has this funding impacted your organisation overall?

The Retrofit programme started with an energy audit in January 2025. This recommended a 3 phase programme of; auto lighting, energy efficient heater panels with remote control, and solar & battery storage. We successfully applied for 100% de-carbonisation funding with the support of Border Community Action. Lorna McCullough guided us well on this journey.

We have completed phases one and two and are applying for planning consent for the solar phase. We are seeing the benefits of the first two phases and hope to build on this with the solar phase which we plan to.

We can now control our energy consumption and at the same time provide a warm hall to our many customers.

2. What difference has the funding made for the people you support?

Our hall can be heated in advance in all its areas and then returned to default settings once the booking has ended. We never have complaints about the temperatures in our hall or its supporting areas.

3. In what ways has the funding affected your volunteers or their involvement?

We can control the temperatures remotely and this means we do not have to physically go into the hall to adjust them up or down. Some bookings finish after 9.0pm so the remote control feature is very useful. Two of our committee, including myself as Chairman share the heating control between us and this works well.

4. What improvements or changes have you made to your programmes or services as a result of the funding?

We can plan heating patterns to fit around the daily bookings which can include up to 3 bookings a day. We can set the heating to come on in advance of sessions whilst conserving energy.

5. Has the funding led to any new collaborations or strengthened community connections?

The Retrofit programme has galvanised and inspired our committee by being involved in a worthwhile energy saving project and at the same time delivering a high standard of service and comfort to our customers.

It has also created a good collaboration between our village hall committee and our community council committee. Myself and one other serve on both and we are collaborating closely on pre-planning and full planning applications to SBC for our solar project in a conservation zone. We are also communicating with other Berwickshire Halls who are going down the solar route.

6. How has the funding influenced your organisation’s sustainability or future plans?

We are motivated by the opportunity to make our heating and lighting costs affordable and within our means. Electricity is our biggest cost and the programme is helping us to control and conserve energy without compromising our service to paying customers.

The solar and battery storage phase is especially important if we can raise 100% funding from supporters to let us sell energy back to the grid.

7. What feedback do you have about the funding application and award process?

BCA, Lorna McCullough and Abigail Hallas have helped us at each step of the journey. My advice to other applicants is to keep asking for advice and also to share and discuss with your committees. The award process is well organised with good easy to use documentation.

8. What additional support would help you build on the success of this funding?

Planning consent to fit conservation PV’s is critical to our solar phase. Without consent from SBC, we cannot complete this phase.

9. Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience with this funding?

A good suggestion is to have useful dialogue with other village halls on their journey. The process was well managed and easy to navigate. BCA officers are good communicators who can be contacted easily and quickly.

The fully funded energy audit in January 2025 kick started the project. It also caused us to look at the 2006 full refurbishment plans which confirmed our hall was fully insulated to the highest standard at that date. The insulation was 100% complete on all roof elevations, walls and floors.