Planning Day

6 February 2017

Hall of Clestrain planning workshop, 28th January 2017

On 28th January members of the John Rae Society’s Hall of Clestrain working group met in the hall at Orphir Community School for a workshop to plan our vision for the Hall. The workshop was devised and led by Tom Hunter, Historic Environment Officer for Orkney Islands Council. He had produced a scale model of the Hall and its surroundings so that we could visualise the site and experiment with different ideas for the various spaces and consider functions.

We all agreed that the restoration of the Hall was the first stage, to consolidate the building and recapture as much of its 18th-century splendor as possible. We also discussed options for the existing outbuilding and courtyard area behind the Hall.

By the end of the day we had walked through the floor plans of the Hall, roughly planned the layout and function of each area, talked through some of the issues and requirements of a range of potential users,   and come up with the outline of a mission statement for the project.

After further consultation with the Board of Trustees and committee members of the John Rae Society, we will work up a proposal and drawings ahead of an open weekend in May where we hope as many local people and visitors as possible will come along to the Hall of Clestrain to see what we are planning and give their feedback.

MORE NEWS POSTS