Trustees have consulted with key users to review the current Chantry Centre design and assess how best to fully maximise the significant potential the building offers for the benefit of the local community. This Capital Programme, which started in 2022, is ongoing with a focus on:

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• Reducing operating costs and improving the centre's sustainability - 30 solar panels were installed on the roof of the Chantry Centre in December 2022, and in the period February to June 2023 (before building works started) daytime consumption reduced by 43% and night use by 23%. We are currently replacing inefficient appliances throughout the building and with a grant from Summerfield Charitable Trust we are installing LED lighting.

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• Facilitating increased use by a number of different users at the same time - the current focus is upon the Garden Room and Hall, with new partition walls and fire proof doors installed in July 2023 and further work will be ongoing over winter 2023/24.

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• Improving accessibility of the centre - planning permission was granted in December 2022 for accessibility improvements to the rear of the building with a new 'Stage Door' entrance to the Hall and Garden Room including, for the first time, ramp access.

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• Improving the aesthetic appeal of the Chantry Centre - the first stage of this was to remove asbestos from the front of the building (which was completed in August 2023) – because with it in situ refurbishment options were limited. Affordable design solutions are still being developed for the front of the building, but in the meantime work is progressing through individual rooms, starting with the Centenary Lounge.

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£200,000 towards the Capital Redesign Project has come from Stroud District Council arising from the Section 106 obligations paid by the developer of the Littlecombe site in Dursley, and the Trustees are engaged in ongoing fundraising to raise additional funds to “stretch” this money as far as possible.