Steel Frame delivery date confirmed - 30 July 2010

We have been advised by the contractors that the steel frame will now be delivered on Monday 9th August. Delivery and unloading of the frame will take place from around 8AM and will take most of the day.

This will mean that there will be no vehicle access during that day, we will remind and advise members of the option to park in Kynegils Rd area with entry to the Club via the gate at the Club's north side. Pedestrian access up the drive will be diverted through the gate to court 9, then along the back of court 9 and along the side of court 7.

The contractors have also advised that they are confident that they can make up the lost time and still complete the project by the scheduled date of the first week in November.

Steel Frame Delivery Delayed - 26 July 2010

Unfortunately there has been a delay on the arrival of the steel frame and it is now expected that it will arrive on Monday 9th August. We should have an update on any implications that this may have on the completion date following our next site meeting on 30 July.

This will also mean that the drive will now be closed on Monday 9th August throughout the day and the alternative access arrangements previously communicated will come into effect on that day.

Work on Schedule - 1 July 2010

We are still on target with the original schedule for an end October completion for the indoor court project. Ground works continue to be carried out based on the arrival of the steel portal frame on 26 July. All piling works are completed and the current works involve concrete and ring beam plus laying of a base surface prior to the arrival of the building steel frame.

Following the SLAZENGER tournament on 18th July, courts 18 & 19 will be taken out of use, as part of this area will be used for drainage soakaway. Therefore an area of these courts will need to be dug up then reinstated at the end of the project.

Delivery of the steel frame on Monday 26th July will mean that there will be no vehicle access during that day, we will remind and advise members of the option to park in Kynegils Rd area with entry to the Club via the gate at the Club's north side.

Erection of the structure will take approximately two weeks.

A further update will be posted in due course but we are pleased to say that the project manager appointed by the club reports that everything is on plan and that all works are approved as per specification.

Work Underway  - 12 May 2010

Work is finally underway!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier News - 29 April 2010

In light of further developments involving Summit Structures, we have held further meetings with the main contactor and our project manager, Lee West Associates.

It was agreed that the best option now was to proceed with the project using an alternative supplier to provide the portal frame structure and fabric cover that will match the design for which we have planning approval.

Work will now get underway on site on Tuesday 4th May.

 

Earlier News - 19 April 2010

We are pleased to announce that work on the indoor project will now commence on Monday the 26th April. Following numerous meetings and conversations over the last 10 days the LTA and Dove Construction together with the Club have satisfied themselves that the sub contractor, Summit Structures UK, are now in a position to ship the mainframe structure and skin from Canada. As part of the negotiations The Club has mitigated any financial risk for this element of the project.

 

Earlier News.... March 2010

As you may already know,  work will get underway on the construction of our new indoor courts on Tuesday 6 April.

The duration of the works will be around 25 weeks with a finish date of Thursday 30 September and the Club will be working closely with the contractors Dove Construction Ltd to minimise any inconvenience to members, visitors and neighbours.

The first 10-12 weeks of the project will focus on the groundworks on site, while the structure itself is being fabricated in Canada by Summit Structures. Rotary piling work for the foundations is likely to start on the 12th April and will take up to 2 weeks.

Access to and from the Club will not be significantly affected; however the driveway will be shared at times with site traffic delivering/removing from the site. Members and particularly parents are asked to take extra care when they or their children are using the driveway either to access courts 18/19 or simply coming and going from the Club on foot.

The site itself will be on existing courts 13/14 and 15-17. It will be secured and fenced off with access only for authorised personnel. Again parents are asked to closely supervise any young children at the Club and ensure that they keep away from the construction area.

The site office and contractor portacabin will be sited adjacent cts 11/12 while an equipment storage facility will be positioned by cts 18/19.

There will be around two days when the driveway will not be accessible; this is when the structure itself arrives on site. This will obviously have implications for anyone driving to the Club, and we will advise on alternative parking arrangements when this happens. This however will not take place until July and we will inform everyone as soon as we know the exact dates.

The groundwork contractors will be working between the hours of 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday. When the building framework is being erected and the fabric stretched over the framework, the working hours will however need to be longer. We have been advised however that this is not particularly noisy work.

Member’s patience and cooperation during the build period is greatly appreciated and as I already mentioned, we will do our best to minimise any inconvenience and will aim to keep you informed of developments or any change in the above.

Please note that a separate communication specifically on the impact on court availability for tennis playing members will follow.

 

INDOOR COURT UPDATE - 9 March 2010

The final arrangements for construction of the 4 indoor courts are now in place and work will start on site on Tuesday 6th April.

The contract went out to tender in January and the tender process was coordinated by the project managing company, Lee West Associates. Dove Construction were successful in the tender bid process and we are pleased to say that the tender costs are within the original forecasted costs of £800K.

Dove Construction, based in Cheltenham, have worked closely with Summit Structures (who manufacture and provide the fabric frame structure) on a number of projects and are therefore very familiar with the requirements of our development.

The confirmation of LTA funding has also been finalised and there is some very significant positive news to report in that the ratio of grant to loan funding has been changed.

Our financial projections were based on a grant of £140K and an interest free loan of £260k. The actual funding offer that we have received is for a £300K grant and an interest free loan of £100K. This is a significant improvement and immediately reduces our annual repayments to the LTA over the 10 year payback period by £16K.

The construction period is projected to last 25 weeks and we will have the courts ready at the start of October in time for the 2010-11 winter season. The next consideration is how the club operates over the next 6 months while the construction is going on.  We will be working closely with the contractors to minimise any inconvenience to members and will aim to keep members well informed throughought the construction period.

It has been an aspiration of the club for many years to have indoor tennis courts at Winchester. As far back as 1980, the club was working towards the development of indoor facilities. At that time a proposed two court facility was not progressed. The combination of the planning constraints and the fact that it was only a two court facility meant that it was not financially viable.

The current project was initiated following member consultation in 2004 - a member survey indicated support for indoor playing facilities.

A planning application was submitted in April 2006 but the application was turned down by Winchester City Council in July of that year. The club subsequently went to independent appeal and planning permission was finally granted in January 2008.

The introduction of indoor facilities to Winchester is essential for our long term survival and will also be a major contribution to tennis development in the Winchester area.

Why should we have indoor courts?

• Indoor playing facilities expected for a club of our stature
• Meet expectations of potential new members
• Improved facilities and all year round playing environment for existing members
• Better environment for mini tennis development and general coaching programme
• Better environment for performance programme
• Avoid cancellation of events and coaching squads due to bad weather
• Meets requirement for indoor tennis provision in the area
• Increased revenue for the club

Since the latest indoor project was initiated, a new manager has been recruited with significant experience of operating a 5 court indoor facility. A club very similar in size and scale to Winchester.

Information from that facility and other clubs that operate indoor courts has been drawn upon to develop operational and financial projections. A detailed financial plan has been prepared that demonstrates the viability of the project. Sensitivity analyses have also been applied to our high income areas of membership subscriptions and indoor court occupancy to show the impact of us not achieving targeted projections.

All our projections indicate a successful project that can only contribute to the growth of tennis in the Winchester and surrounding areas.

 

Work is now underway on the construction of 4 new indoor courts at Winchester. The courts are targeted to be ready for November 2010 and the Club is seeking sponsorship partners who might like to be associated with this exciting development at what is considered to be one of the leading Tennis Clubs in the south.

For more details, please open the information page by clicking on the file below

Indoor Court Sponsor Info

Some ideas on raising funding for the indoor court project were recently circulated to members. Following further review, the management committee have decided to promote the "member's special loan" arrangement that has been used in the past by the Club.

Members are invited to loan a sum of money to the Club and benefit from a reduction in membership fees. Key points of this arrangement are

• minimum loan period of 3 years
• up to 4.6% reduction in membership fees i.e. up to £46 reduction on fees for every £1K loan placed with the Club *
• minimum loan of £1,000
• maximum loan - the loan cannot be so high as to result in a reduction in fees that would exceed the value of the membership/s  - example. A loan of £20K would mean a reduction in fees of up to £920 per annum. This loan could be accepted if there were family memberships totalling at least that value but it could not be accepted if there was only one gold membership at £595

* The Club is prepared to give "up to" 4.6% reduction in fees. However if members wish to help support the Club by opting for a lower rate then this can be indicated on the special loan agreement form that is completed when lodging the loan with the Club.

If you are interested in a "special loan" then please contact Billy Kerr, General Manager at the Club. 01962 854028