AFTER a decade of planning, revising and more than $685,000 in funding, the Harrietville Hall is finally receiving its much-needed upgrade, with works commencing last week. The upgrade will include a new multi-purpose meeting room, a covered outdoor area which opens up towards the Ovens River, upgraded disabled facilities and an upgraded hall entry. A new storeroom in the original plan was removed due to cost restrictions. Harrietville Hall Committee of Management chair, Simon Jones, said the project has been a difficult journey, but one supported every step of the way by the community. “Following the 2012/13 bushfires, the Harrietville community were given a grant through the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA), to look at ways to try and build resilience in the community,” he said. “As part of that, the community developed an emergency management plan for Harrietville in which the hall was identified as a key facility in building resilience and preparedness. “We then used part of that grant money to develop a concept plan in upgrading the hall back in 2017 which we’ve been chipping away at. “Then, with the 2019 bushfires and COVID, the hall committee received a $590,000 grant from Bushfire Recovery Victoria, now called Emergency Recovery Victoria (ERV) for the implementation of the entire upgrade, but COVID brought its own consequences. “The significant one being the increase in construction costs, so we had to go back and revise the scope of the upgrade and ERV provided us with an additional $33,000 in funding to do that.” However, Mr Jones said despite the significant funding, the scope of the works able to be delivered was still restricted. “Following that we started doing some fundraising with limited success, however it came to the attention of Bendigo Bank that we had a shortfall,” he said. “They provided us with $55,000 through the Community Enterprise Foundation as well as another $7935 from Community Bank Bright. “This additional funding has meant we can now progress with the work, we are incredibly thankful to these community banks and the work they do in supporting local projects. “It’s been a difficult project because of the delays through COVID and some quite significant procedural delays but the community has been so supportive of us the entire time. “The storeroom is still very much on the priority list, we’ve got a vision and we’ll continue to deliver improved facilities for our community and spaces they can use. “Our whole objective is to provide a space and facility that brings people together and build community connection, building community resilience in doing so.” The works begun last week, thanks to a local builder, and are expected to be completed by December this year.
