accessibility gloucestershire

 


Project plan

PILOT Project

 

author: Andy berry

version: 0.1

date: 17th August 2001



project plan

pilot project

introduction

This document is about Accessibility Gloucestershire and the possibility of opening a pilot project in the centre of Gloucester.

who are accessibility gloucestershire?

Formed about two years ago, and registered as a charity last year, Accessibility Gloucestershire has, as its long-term aim, to develop several ‘focus centres’ for people with disability around the county of Gloucestershire.

These centres will offer a wide range of services (provided by statutory and voluntary organisations) for people with disabilities under one roof.

Accessibility Gloucestershire role will be as ‘landlord’ and providing common services to help individual service providers to provide services that local people with disabilities need.

Initially, it was thought that the first of these centres would be a re-development of the current premises occupied by Shopmobility in Hampden Way.  The cost of this project, estimated at£772,000, has been difficult to raise without demonstrating a need for the services that would be delivered.

For those who don’t know Gloucester Shopmobility, it currently is housed in several potakabins in Hampden Way:


It’s near the heart of Gloucester city centre, as shown below:

what’s now proposed

Since we need to demonstrate a need, what better way than to start a pilot project?  Then, we can say that ‘X’ people used the service, ‘Y’ of whom would not have got the assistance they needed had we not been there.

So, what’s proposed is just that – a pilot project.  We intend to deliver a similar range of services, albeit on a smaller scale[1], as will be delivered at the permanent focus centre.

WHAT SORT OF PREMISES?

Ideally, we need a property that is ready to move into with minimum refurbishment.  Although, we realise that we may need to modify it to make it more accessible to people with disabilities.

It must be ground floor with level access from the street to encourage people to drop in.

Being close to our eventual home offers many advantages:

·         We can offer our services to Shopmobility users

·         We can accurately gauge how many users come to this area of Gloucester

·         Users will know where we are

·         And, when the focus centre is being built, we will have a local presence

 whO will be there?

We are currently negotiating with several service providers.  Details will be added when they are available.

We’ve had interest from:

·         GUiDE Information Service (a statutory service providing advice for people with disabilities) to deliver advice sessions run with a combination of volunteers and paid staff from GUiDE..

In addition, we expect to provide:

·         Social/waiting space for people with disabilities and, particularly, for Shopmobility and DialaRide customers.

·         Meeting room available to hire by small local groups of disabled people.

·         Office space for Accessibility Gloucestershire and other groups.

·         Some level of retail service selling small equipment (due to the limited space) but with other equipment available if ordered.

To assess the level of need for meeting facilities, we had a meeting last year attended by representatives from about twenty organisations, all of whom indicated an interest in using the focus centre.  As soon as we know that the pilot will be going ahead, we’ll approach these groups again.

what we need…

Below, we present several sets of figures:

·         A total project budget for the expected three year life of the project

·         A budget for the first year

·         An ‘interim’ budget to fund just the startup costs

Of course, going ahead just with funding for the first year or to cover the startup costs will require immediate and intensive fundraising efforts to ensure continuity of funding.

You may notice that there is no rental income from tenants.  It would be our intention to raise some rental income from statutory tenants and ask for donations from voluntary bodies.  However, these sources are unlikely to be material[2].


  

 

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Total

 

£

£

£

£

Capital

 

 

 

 

Partitions

5,000

 

 

5,000

Professional Fees

2,500

 

 

2,500

Office Equipment

4,000

 

 

4,000

Furniture

9,000

 

 

9,000

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

 

 

 

 

Salary (1 full time) + on cost

25,800

26,575

27,375

79,750

General Running Expenses

4,600

4,750

4,900

14,250

Promotional Material

3,000

3,000

3,000

9,000

Training for staff and volunteers

1,000

1,000

1,000

3,000

Recruitment costs

1,500

0

0

1,500

Travel

1,000

1,000

1,000

3,000

Rent

8,000

8,500

8,850

25,350

Rates

2,100

2,200

2,400

6,700

Lighting and heating

2,500

2,700

3,000

8,200

 

 

 

 

 

Total

70,000

49,725

51,525

171,250

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

table 1 – three year figures

  

 

Year 1

Total

 

 

 

£

£

 

 

Capital

 

 

 

 

Partitions

5,000

5,000

 

 

Professional Fees

2,500

2,500

 

 

Office Equipment

4,000

4,000

 

 

Furniture

9,000

9,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

 

 

 

 

Salary (1 full time) + on cost

25,800

25,800

 

 

General Running Expenses

4,600

4,600

 

 

Promotional Material

3,000

3,000

 

 

Training for staff and volunteers

1,000

1,000

 

 

Recruitment costs

1,500

1,500

 

 

Travel

1,000

1,000

 

 

Rent

8,000

8,000

 

 

Rates

2,100

2,100

 

 

Lighting and heating

2,500

2,500

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total

70,000

70,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(assumes that funding can be found to cover the 3 year lease)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 2 – one year figures 

 

Year 1

Total

 

 

 

£

£

 

 

Capital

 

 

 

 

Partitions

0

0

 

 

Professional Fees

2,500

2,500

 

 

Office Equipment

4,000

4,000

 

 

Furniture

1,000

1,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

 

 

 

 

Salary (1 full time) + on cost

12,900

12,900

 

 

General Running Expenses

1,150

1,150

 

 

Promotional Material

500

500

 

 

Training for staff and volunteers

250

250

 

 

Recruitment costs

500

500

 

 

Travel

250

250

 

 

Rent

2,000

2,000

 

 

Rates

525

525

 

 

Lighting and heating

625

625

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total

26,200

26,200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(assumes that furniture can be borrowed from the Recycling Project)

 

(assumes that the project woker stays for 6 months)

 

 

(assumes that funding can be found to cover the 3 year lease)

 

 

 

 

 

 

table 3 – startup costs



[1] Possibly, just having some services available for only part of the week

[2] Particularly as there is a large deficit facing Gloucestershire County Council this year.