Future of 7 VT working group: Third meeting

- Input from the co-Warden + Input from the co-Manager +

Looking back, at the time of the original purchase, of the projected 250KGBP spend only 150KGBP +was spent, and again in 1993 a review suggested some major work which wasn't done.

Lettings have gone down this year because of the loss of two major lettings: The Traverse, who +moved to their own premises; the other the City of Edinburgh who have cut back on external training. +Prospects this year don't look great on that front.

At interview, we were asked to "be a Quaker presence". Our day begins at 0745, and the Meeting +House is often open until 2130 or 2200. Sue and Anthony average about 60hrs/week, although only +contracted for 37.5.

Staff costs increased this year in part because of the necessity of allowing for holiday pay for +part-time staff (in arrears).

The Buxtons' vision for 7VT is as a centre for Quakers in Edinburgh or even in Scotland. The +increase in visibility we have worked for is part of this: making the entry to the ground floor and +the Festival Cafe more evidently Quaker.

The Festival venue doesn't actually net any money: we're closed for six weeks as far as bookings +is concerned -- if we were not a venue, we might get income from e.g. rehersal space +lettings. It has provoked the food hygiene changes, and are leading to the upgrade. For tea and +coffee only, we could do without the kitchen upgrade. A redesign there would enable a new letting +space. So overall we lose money for that six weeks, even though staff costs are lower, as we have four +venue managers (Sue, Anthony, Tom and Tam [as convenor of the Festival C'ttee], one of whom is always +on duty. Only when Tam is on do we have staff cover as well.

The kitchen upgrade is currently estimated at 30KGBP, the toilets 50KGBP. Replacing the cookers +means adding ventolation, all stainless-steel. Decomination requires pressure hoses, with more impact.

The kitchen does not play much into the lettings business, that is, not having a kitchen would +not have much if any impact on the lettings. Anyone who wants lunch has a buffet (usually cold) +catered in. The refreshment business is for teas and coffees.

Cooking is crucial watershed: the "no kitchen" option would still allow dishwasher(s) and fridge(s).

Alternatively, consider running a cafe continuously during the year. This would of course have +an impact on the library.

We are hopeful that the Victoria Terrace pavement will be re-opened through to GIVB by around Easter.

Opening up access to the creche directly from the library would be about 5KGBP, we could also +look at breaking the internal wall down, adding built-in cupboards and a window.

The toilets would be aiming for five lady's (plus basins), two cubicles and two urinals for the men's

Basic fabric and roof are in good state. The windows are pending. The hall is in good state, +and proving attractive to lettings.

The meetingroom itself has access issues wrt catering, and we have been trying to get most +catering done on the 1st floor -- not all groups like this. There is no water or drainage.

We could service/manage more letting with existing staffing levels if we had more rooms.

Heating bill for the whole building was about 8KGBP last year, some heaters lack local +thermostats. Solar or roof-based heat exchanger might be possible. No costings are available for this.

Fire regulations are now becoming an issue: strictly speaking the maximum occupancy of rooms +above a single staircase is 60. A safe refuge and lift sealing are also in the offing.

The overall regulatory situation means anytime we do anything, we now have to do it to the top +standard demanded by fire, safety, health etc. regulations. We are sometimes put in a difficult +position by this, for example, with respect to young Quaker residential groups, to whom strictly +speaking we should be saying "no" to. If we break the rules, and an accident happens, we will be in +serious trouble.

Staffing: Tom does 3 days a week, one of which is maintenance, and he covers for Friday +(Managers' day off) and holidays. There are a further 8 0-hours contract staff who fill the rest. We +do lose money if we open the building for one group who are only using the Bow Room, for which the +charity rate is 10GBP/hour.

The recession may be having an impact, with things quite quiet since Christmas, except for some +weeks when we are over-subscribed. Wednesday is the busiest day of the week, somewhat hampered by +midweek meeting.

We can't compete with the big hotels and conference centres, and we don't try. Our primary +lettors come from the voluntary sector. Although they have been hit by the recession, and the +shrinkage of Lottery funding consequent on the Olympics, we are looking at some hopeful prospects as well.

We do have some groups with whom we have long-standing regular bookings, although not in the form +of say an annual contracts -- there are weekly discounts.

6VT have enquired about letting the Bow Room on a long-term basis.

We're not in a position (as say Dundee is) to do commercial lettings of a part of the building.

Possible comparators: The Methodist Church in Nicholson Square; St. Mary's RC Cathedral

We are now considered a "Quaker Centre". Manchester, Liverpool, York, Sheffield, Manchester, Swarthmore, Woodbrooke, Oxford (but they don't come) are +others. We are the only one in Scotland. Glasgow and Dundee do some lettings, but without the overall +approach of a Centre.

There are still ways we could be making more of the building, more signage, more window displays. +We don't have a permanent place for worship, which is unfortunate. Not enough use is being made of the +Meeting House by and for Quakers.

The windows project: it should be possible to get double-glazed vertically-hinged windows in the +Meeting Room and Hall, which +would mean we could get rid of the secondary windows and have proper ventolation. We're hoping to have +this redesign done soon so that if we must do

Trading Company to run the business: Friends House have done that, the Priory Rooms (Poole +Street, Birmingham) have done this. Anthony would not like to go that way: it's now just a business.

Dundee Property Trust own the tenement in which the Dundee Meeting House, and the property agent +on the ground floor. Laurie Naumann has just become a trustee.

Deciding what the right model is depends on what footprint we want, whether we want a presence. +Setting up a trading company when we're running at a deficit seems like a non-starter.

Why aren't we running more Quaker study groups here? Why aren't more of our members doing more of +their Quaker-related business here? Our regular bookings do stop us being adventurous: we could have +had the whole Middle-Eastern festival here, if we hadn't had the load of our ongoing bookings. We +could change the way we do bookings, shift from regular slots to blocks.

Anthony was dismayed at the questionnaire which was headed for lettings, at a time when the +client base is delicate, indeed frightened that it might scare people off. None of the questionnaires +included anything about who the group is and what our remit is, or included the question of vision. +Eileen mentioned that the goal was to find out more about what made people come back, or not. There +already is a satisfaction evaluation for letting clients.

Brian suggested that the timing might be better once we have a better sense of what path we are +going down.

Anthony thought that asking people about alternative visions is the best way to get people's input.

Anthony recommended only having one questionnaire, so that the results are +comparable. Alison agreed that many of the questions should be the same, but the some questions were +only appropriate for some groups.