Cockenzie House Successful in Scottish Land Fund Award
Cockenzie House and Gardens are absolutely delighted to be receiving this award from the Scottish Land Fund. This much loved iconic building can now stay close to the heart of the community of Cockenzie & Port Seton as it has for the last 170 years.
See list of Frequently Asked Question Below
Q1. What are you going to do with the church?
Answer: Following our community consultation which we carried out in Summer 2023, we found that the community would most like to have the building used for community use, pop up restaurants, performance and exhibition space. We want to put the buildings to the uses the community told us they wanted.
Q2. Does this mean that there will be a lot of noise coming from the Church buildings?
Answer: Concern about noise is at the top of our list. As a result, in our submission to the Scottish Land Fund we included designs to add soundproofing so that neighbours will not be disturbed. The soundproofing is part of the extra funding we now need to raise to carry out works to the Church and Hall in order to ensure they meet regulation. A good example of this is that there is only one toilet in the church building. For any event, regulation will require us to build more toilets. We estimate that we are going to have to find around £100,000 of funding.
Q3. What about parking?
Answer: We appreciate that parking could be an issue given the narrowness of the road around the Church and the level of residents parking already in this area. We are also aware that there is increased usage in the area of the church during service times and when the Hall is being used by local groups. Where there may be a big event, it is our intention to endeavour to find alternative parking facilities as well as encourage green modes of transport such as walking, cycling and the use of public transport.
Q4. What is going to happen to the groups currently using the Hall?
Answer: The 10th April announcement informs us that the Scottish Land Fund have awarded us the funds. The next step will be to agree the details of the sale. As with all purchases of properties, this takes time. It will be the decision of Cockenzie Old Parish Church as to whether existing activities carry on in the meantime. From the perspective of Cockenzie House & Gardens, we will do everything we can so that the community groups currently using the space and who wish to continue to do so, can.
Q5. Will it cost more than now for local groups and people to hire the spaces in the Hall and Church?
Answer: We do not think so at this point. It will be our intention to keep costs as low as we can.
Q6. What are you going to do with the Hall?
We still wish this to be a large open space which the community can use, though we will have to look into regulation to ensure that this can legally continue given that it is no longer a space related to worshipping. For all works we will be doing we will be using our best endeavours to ensure that we use local tradespeople and suppliers. All the estimates we used in our business plan for the Scottish Land Fund application were from local tradespeople.
Q7. Are you going to knock the Hall down?
No, we do not want to do this. From the surveys we carried out, the Hall does need some work but it is in relatively good condition despite its age. However, in order to meet regulations, we will need to carry out changes to the buildings. An obvious example is that there are few toilets on the site. We now need to try to raise funding so that the buildings can meet required regulation. For all works we will be doing we will be using our best endeavours to ensure that we use local tradespeople and suppliers. All the estimates we used in our business plan for the Scottish Land Fund application were from local tradespeople.
Q8. Are you going to turn the Church and the Hall into studios?
Answer: No, this is not our intention. The public consultation did not identify this. Also, we do not think that the layout of the buildings lead to dividing them up to make single studios. So we are going to keep them as they are but make them into safe, accessible open spaces for the community to use and enjoy. For all works we will be doing we will be using our best endeavours to ensure that we use local tradespeople and suppliers. All the estimates we used in our business plan for the Scottish Land Fund application were from local tradespeople.
Q9. There is so much history in the building. Is this going to be forgotten? What is going to happen to the Bell Tower?
Answer: As people who have been brought up and lived most of our lives in Cockenzie & Port Seton, we are acutely aware of the history of the buildings. We do not want to lose this. We want to conserve it. Part of our plans is that the key features of the building remain and are preserved. So, we will keep the bell tower. We would love to keep, preserve and enhance the beautiful stained glass windows in situ if the congregation is not able to take these to the new church at Chalmers. However, we will need to take out the pews to create a large usable space. If anyone thinks that their family bought or had a pew dedicated to them, they are very welcome to claim this when we do the refit.
Q10. What about the 1722 Waggonway’s Salt Pan at the back of the Church Hall?
Answer: Prior to our submission to the Scottish Land Fund, we had extensive discussions with the 1722 Waggonway group. This is a remarkable site and now that we have received the news about the award, we can begin discussing with Waggonway about how we can feature the salt pan within our plans. This is just one aspect of the history of the site we are committed to keep and preserve.
Q11. How much extra funding will you need?
Answer: In total, we have estimated that we will need in the order of an extra £100,000 funding in addition to the Scottish Land Fund’s award to ensure the Church is a usable and safe place for the community. Raising these funds will be a considerable burden to the team at Cockenzie House & Gardens but they are going to try their best. They are researching sources of funding now. It could be that we might have to go for separate tranches of funding and the development of the site might have to be phased also.
Q12. Isn’t taking on other buildings too much for the small team at Cockenzie House & Gardens?
Answer: Yes, it is true that Cockenzie House & Gardens is operated by a small core team. The Trustees of Cockenzie House & Gardens thought long and hard about the extra time commitments and personal liability that the acquisition of the Church and Hall would bring. However, we decided that we must take on this project to help the community and ensure the site is not sold for residential development. In order to ensure that we can manage, firstly, we will be offering the Auld Kirk congregation a place on our Board; secondly, our plans are to make the buildings as ‘SMART’ as possible to reduce the amount of resource involved, and thirdly the award does include some funding for a caretaker so we will be advertising for this. However, if you would like to help in the form of a trusteeship, or volunteering, or in any role, please don’t hesitate to contact us on info@cockenziehouseandgardens.co.uk.
Q13. Does the Scottish Land Fund cover the full costs of the purchase?
No, the Scottish Land Fund award is very generous, but it only provides 95% of the purchase price. Cockenzie House & Gardens have decided to fund the £11,000, or 5% of the purchase price from our reserves. The remainder of the award is to cover legal fees and a [janny]