While it was business as usual for the rest of Rye, Architects, Engineers, acoustics experts and many other specialist trades have been working hard in the pre-construction phase. In order to make sure that there are no surprises and that when the building starts, we can complete on time and in budget, we've had to organise…and pay for…
Asbestos removal
Many buildings of this vintage probably contain some bits of asbestos - usually in the pipe lagging or boiler room - and Lion Street is no different. We have had two sessions of asbestos removal and the work is now complete
Electricity Sub-station
You may know that there is an Electricity Sub-station sandwiched between the George and the Lion Street site. The north-east corner of the the 100 seat auditorium would sit over the existing cables, and this isn’t allowed as UK Power Networks need to be able to get to the cables without knocking any buildings down. Consequently, the cables had to be moved by a metre or so. UK Power Networks and their sub-contractors turned up on time and during some of the nastiest weather over the last month have dug, cut, shoveled and drank tea and all is now complete. It wasn’t cheap but it had to be done.
Archaeology
Also necessary was a survey to make sure that we weren’t about to disturb anything of archaeological importance. Again more digging (and tea) and a few visits from the County Archaeologist and the result is a positive one.
Rye Studio School
The new Studio School is using the St Mary’s Centre (the old FE Centre) as temporary classrooms and offices as they build their new school in The Grove. As well as giving the students from year 10 a guided tour, we’ve been very happy to host Art classes in the Old Library
Fund-raising
The total cost of the development of the site to create a state of the art 2-screen cinema is £1.4m. And again...we’re nearly there!
After many months of fundraising and fantastic reactions from local people and businesses as well as support from East Sussex County Council’s Rural Regeneration team, the project is in advanced discussions to secure the remaining £350,000. We are optimistic that we can announce more details very soon.
This spectacular show of support for the project, combined with the contributions from Kino Digital means that the total figure of £1.5m has nearly been reached. After a period of discussions and tendering, a letter of intent has been issued to Durtnell - our favoured Civil Engineering Contractor - and we hope to sign final contracts in the next few weeks.
The plan is to open the cinema in time for the Christmas holidays 2014
