DEVELOPMENT MANAGER'S AND PROJECT OFFICER'S MONTHLY REPORTS

Project Officer's Report September 07

Project/Marketing Officer’s Report September 07

Lodge Redevelopment
The lodge redevelopment now has planning permission, including for the log-built boiler house / laundry, which are to be built as part of a scribed log building training course, planned for around February.
The GCA Lottery application has been moved back a month to the panel meeting on 15th November. As such, the tendering for a lead contractor for the work will be set back, and so also the earliest possible commencement date for the work. It has been suggested that we should now aim for work beginning the first full week of January 08. This will mean immediate marketing of all weeks from November 07 up to and including the New Year week. At the other end, it is suggested that work may be ongoing throughout June 08.
Match funding:
An application was submitted to a possible match-funder in August, for £30,000 towards energy-saving measures within the redevelopment.
An application to a charitable trust for an amount approaching £100,000 towards construction costs in the lodge is to be submitted very soon. Their panel will meet around 20th November.
A biomass boiler supplier/installer has visited, and agreed to give an estimate for wood-chip boiler supply and installation. We require two different estimates for HICEC funding. Another is expected to come from another supply/installer, following a visit from them. The first company are not yet on the HICEC-approved list of accredited suppliers, being a very new company, but it is hoped this will be a surmountable obstacle, HICEC being aware of them and having put us onto them.

Lodge Bookings
The next two weeks in the lodge we have the Edinburgh Ski Tour Club, then the JMT ‘Art in Assynt’ week. Two empty weeks still in early October, but there are several possibilities to part-fill them.
Enquiries are coming in for next year, including for the July/August weeks, which had failed to fill well in 07.
The Business Tourism Unit of VisitScotland took a small number of Glencanisp Lodge leaflets aimed at corporate/business bookings, for a display at a recent business tourism event.


Stalking
With a mixture of poor weather and a high concentration of bookings late on in the season, the stalkers will have a high number of stags to kill over the next month. Fingers crossed weather-wise, and foot-and-mouth-wise.

Website
A note of board meetings being open to anyone in the community has been put on the website, along with the small sponsored link agreed upon previously. Yet to add: DM and PO reports.
Our web technician is keen for any more photos anybody has to go on the website.

Angling
A meeting was held with a representative of ‘Substance’, a co-operative organisation involved in using sport as a means of social inclusion and engagement. He plans to research options for using angling available in Assynt for social / educational benefit.