2020’s COVID-19 pandemic has certainly turned our year upside down, but we’re working hard behind the scenes to try and realise our ambitious plans for the future.
As you will know, our plan to transform our home in Mossley, Vale Mill, was due to begin this year so we could open our doors as the Northern Carnival Centre of Excellence and welcome you to our brand new, state-of-the-art, multi-purpose community cultural hub.
The lockdown has meant that the project has been delayed slightly, but we’re delighted to announce we’ve appointed a Preferred Bidder, Skyline Property Solutions, and hope to have a contract in place by the end of the year.
It is estimated that phase one of the project will take eight to nine months to complete, so the new-look venue will hope to open to the public by the end of 2021.
Our CEO, Leon Patel, says: ‘It’s taken time to get to this point: many years fundraising and case-making, and then, of course, nobody could have foreseen this year’s pandemic and subsequent lockdown. But Global Grooves is resilient, and our community needs a place like this more than ever!
‘We’re looking forward to opening our doors to our neighbours as soon as we can, but there’s still lots more work to be done and we need to raise more money to complete the project to realise our ambitious vision.’
Skyline Property Solutions, based in Liverpool, are no strangers to the arts and culture sector, having built Walk The Plank’s RIBA award-winning home in Salford, which was also designed by the same architects, Architectural Emporium.
The tender process to appoint an electrical and mechanical contractor to the Vale Mill project is ongoing and a full update for the project is expected in December 2020.
We’ll keep you posted!