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2 <?xml-stylesheet type='text/xsl' href='../../../lib/xml/doc.xsl'?>
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3 <!DOCTYPE doc SYSTEM "../../../lib/xml/doc.dtd" [
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5 ]>
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6 <doc>
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7 <head>
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8 <title>Future of 7 VT working group: Third meeting</title>
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9 <author>This informal summary by Henry S. Thompson, Convenor</author>
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10 <date>Held at 7 Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh on 8 February 2009, 7:30 p.m.</date>
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11 </head>
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12 <body>
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13 <div>
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14 <title>Attendance</title>
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15 <p>Present: Alison Burnley, Anthony Buxton, Madeleine Harding, Ken Jobling, Phil Lucas,
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16 Brian Mayes, Laurie Naumann, Rufus Reade,
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17 Eileen Schott, Henry Thompson (in the clerk's chair)</p>
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18 </div>
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19 <div>
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20 <title>Input from the co-Manager</title>
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21 <p>Looking back, at the time of the original purchase, of the projected 250KGBP spend only 150KGBP
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22 was spent, and again in 1993 a review suggested some major work which wasn't done.</p>
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23 <p>Lettings have gone down this year because of the loss of two major lettings: The Traverse, who
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24 moved to their own premises; the other the City of Edinburgh who have cut back on external training.
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25 Prospects this year don't look great on that front.</p>
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26 <p>At interview, we were asked to "be a Quaker presence". Our day begins at 0745, and the Meeting
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27 House is often open until 2130 or 2200. Sue and Anthony average about 60hrs/week, although only
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28 contracted for 37.5.</p>
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29 <p>Staff costs increased this year in part because of the necessity of allowing for holiday pay for
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30 part-time staff (in arrears).</p>
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31 <p>The Buxtons' vision for 7VT is as a centre for Quakers in Edinburgh or even in Scotland. The
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32 increase in visibility we have worked for is part of this: making the entry to the ground floor and
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33 the Festival Cafe more evidently Quaker.</p>
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34 <p>The Festival venue doesn't actually net any money: we're closed for six weeks as far as bookings
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35 is concerned -- if we were not a venue, we <emph>might</emph> get income from e.g. rehersal space
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36 lettings. It has provoked the food hygiene changes, and are leading to the upgrade. For tea and
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37 coffee only, we could do without the kitchen upgrade. A redesign there would enable a new letting
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38 space. So overall we lose money for that six weeks, even though staff costs are lower, as we have four
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39 venue managers (Sue, Anthony, Tom and Tam [as convenor of the Festival C'ttee], one of whom is always
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40 on duty. Only when Tam is on do we have staff cover as well.</p>
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41 <p>The kitchen upgrade is currently estimated at 30KGBP, the toilets 50KGBP. Replacing the cookers
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42 means adding ventolation, all stainless-steel. Decomination requires pressure hoses, with more impact.</p>
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43 <p>The kitchen does not play much into the lettings business, that is, not having a kitchen would
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44 not have much if any impact on the lettings. Anyone who wants lunch has a buffet (usually cold)
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45 catered in. The refreshment business is for teas and coffees.</p>
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46 <p>Cooking is crucial watershed: the "no kitchen" option would still allow dishwasher(s) and fridge(s).</p>
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47 <p>Alternatively, consider running a cafe continuously during the year. This would of course have
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48 an impact on the library.</p>
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49 <p>We are hopeful that the Victoria Terrace pavement will be re-opened through to GIVB by around Easter.</p>
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50 <p>Opening up access to the creche directly from the library would be about 5KGBP, we could also
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51 look at breaking the internal wall down, adding built-in cupboards and a window.</p>
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52 <p>The toilets would be aiming for five lady's (plus basins), two cubicles and two urinals for the men's</p>
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53 <p>Basic fabric and roof are in good state. The windows are pending. The hall is in good state,
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54 and proving attractive to lettings.</p>
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55 <p>The meetingroom itself has access issues wrt catering, and we have been trying to get most
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56 catering done on the 1st floor -- not all groups like this. There is no water or drainage.</p>
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57 <p>We could service/manage more letting with existing staffing levels if we had more rooms.</p>
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58 <p>Heating bill for the whole building was about 8KGBP last year, some heaters lack local
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59 thermostats. Solar or roof-based heat exchanger might be possible. No costings are available for this.</p>
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60 <p>Fire regulations are now becoming an issue: strictly speaking the maximum occupancy of rooms
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61 above a single staircase is 60. A safe refuge and lift sealing are also in the offing.</p>
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62 <p>The overall regulatory situation means anytime we do anything, we now have to do it to the top
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63 standard demanded by fire, safety, health etc. regulations. We are sometimes put in a difficult
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64 position by this, for example, with respect to young Quaker residential groups, to whom strictly
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65 speaking we should be saying "no" to. If we break the rules, and an accident happens, we will be in
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66 serious trouble.</p>
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67 <p>Staffing: Tom does 3 days a week, one of which is maintenance, and he covers for Friday
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68 (Managers' day off) and holidays. There are a further 8 0-hours contract staff who fill the rest. We
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69 do lose money if we open the building for one group who are only using the Bow Room, for which the
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70 charity rate is 10GBP/hour.</p>
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71 <p>The recession may be having an impact, with things quite quiet since Christmas, except for some
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72 weeks when we are over-subscribed. Wednesday is the busiest day of the week, somewhat hampered by
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73 midweek meeting.</p>
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74 <p>We can't compete with the big hotels and conference centres, and we don't try. Our primary
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75 lettors come from the voluntary sector. Although they have been hit by the recession, and the
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76 shrinkage of Lottery funding consequent on the Olympics, we are looking at some hopeful prospects as well.</p>
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77 <p>We do have some groups with whom we have long-standing regular bookings, although not in the form
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78 of say an annual contracts -- there are weekly discounts.</p>
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79 <p>6VT have enquired about letting the Bow Room on a long-term basis.</p>
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80 <p>We're not in a position (as say Dundee is) to do commercial lettings of a part of the building.</p>
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81 <p>Possible comparators: The Methodist Church in Nicholson Square; St. Mary's RC Cathedral</p>
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82 <p>We are now considered a "Quaker Centre". Manchester, Liverpool, York, Sheffield, Manchester, Swarthmore, Woodbrooke, Oxford (but they don't come) are
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83 others. We are the only one in Scotland. Glasgow and Dundee do some lettings, but without the overall
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84 approach of a Centre.</p>
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85 <p>There are still ways we could be making more of the building, more signage, more window displays.
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86 We don't have a permanent place for worship, which is unfortunate. Not enough use is being made of the
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87 Meeting House <emph>by and for Quakers</emph>.</p>
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88 <p>The windows project: it should be possible to get double-glazed vertically-hinged windows in the
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89 Meeting Room and Hall, which
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90 would mean we could get rid of the secondary windows and have proper ventolation. We're hoping to have
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91 this redesign done soon so that if we must do </p>
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92 <p>Trading Company to run the business: Friends House have done that, the Priory Rooms (Poole
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93 Street, Birmingham) have done this. Anthony would not like to go that way: it's now just a business.</p>
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94 <p>Dundee Property Trust own the tenement in which the Dundee Meeting House, and the property agent
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95 on the ground floor. Laurie Naumann has just become a trustee.</p>
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96 <p>Deciding what the right model is depends on what footprint we want, whether we want a presence.
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97 Setting up a trading company when we're running at a deficit seems like a non-starter.</p>
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98 <p>Why aren't we running more Quaker study groups here? Why aren't more of our members doing more of
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99 their Quaker-related business here? Our regular bookings do stop us being adventurous: we could have
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100 had the whole Middle-Eastern festival here, if we hadn't had the load of our ongoing bookings. We
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101 could change the way we do bookings, shift from regular slots to blocks.</p>
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102 <p>Anthony was dismayed at the questionnaire which was headed for lettings, at a time when the
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103 client base is delicate, indeed frightened that it might scare people off. None of the questionnaires
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104 included anything about who the group is and what our remit is, or included the question of vision.
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105 Eileen mentioned that the goal was to find out more about what made people come back, or not. There
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106 already is a satisfaction evaluation for letting clients.</p>
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107 <p>Brian suggested that the timing might be better once we have a better sense of what path we are
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108 going down.</p>
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109 <p>Anthony thought that asking people about alternative visions is the best way to get people's input.</p>
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110 <p>Anthony recommended only having <emph>one</emph> questionnaire, so that the results are
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111 comparable. Alison agreed that many of the questions should be the same, but the some questions were
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112 only appropriate for some groups.</p>
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113 </div>
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114 <div>
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115 <title>Input from the Convenor of Fabric and Maintenance
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116 C'ttee</title>
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117 <p>Ken is a trustee as well. Trustees have decided that no major spending commitments can be made
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118 (except for urgent matters) until this Working Group has reported and AM has come to some conclusions.
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119 This puts real pressure on getting recommendations and decisions out of this review exercise as quickly
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120 as possible.</p>
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121 <p>Trustees have passed two things as matters of priority to F&M: ongoing roof access above the flat (e.g. wrt
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122 gutters) and priorities arising from the quinquennial review, which had to be done very soon, for
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123 example some of the West windows.</p>
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124 <p>At a Quaker Centres meeting last week we heard many similar stories to what Anthony said above</p>
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125 <p>The possibility of establishing some official GM use of building was explored in 1995. The
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126 operation of Quaker Link Scotland from 7VT also happened around then. The appointment of an admin.
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127 assistant to GM was at first thought of as feeding into this, but partly because of the IVS lease on
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128 the Bow Room, and partly because of opposition from elsewhere in GM, nothing came of it.</p>
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129 <p>There is a danger of getting bogged down in costs, while losing sight of the benefits of the place.</p>
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130 <p>We have been running on low reserves since, roughly, the establishment of the Kelso Meeting
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131 House. We can't look at the Meeting House in isolation.</p>
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132 <p>Other Quaker Centres have emphasised the need to have a clear vision in service of which the
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133 financial plans are framed.</p>
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134 </div>
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135 <div>
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136 <title>Status of survey preparation</title>
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137 <list type="1defn">
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138 <item term="Quaker groups (Madeleine)"></item>
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139 <item term="Non-Quaker groups (Eileen)"></item>
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140 <item term="Central Edinburgh members (Phil)"></item>
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141 <item term="Other LMs (Alison)"></item>
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142 <item term="AM finance types (Laurie)"></item>
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143 <item term="7VT staff (Brian)"></item>
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144 </list>
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145 </div>
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146 <div>
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147 <title></title>
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148 <p>Need a tour of the building, next time (when Rufus is here).</p>
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149 </div>
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150 <div>
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151 <title>Next Meeting</title>
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152 <p>Our next meeting will be at </p>
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153 </div>
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154 </body>
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155 </doc>
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