National Curling Academy update

It's now past noon on April 1, so I can assure you there's nothing of an April Fool's joke in this post. I rather wish it was though. There's yet more controversy surrounding the proposed National Curling Academy project.

Apparently the Kinross Curling Trust, charged with facilitating the construction of the National Curling Academy with RCCC offices and a curling history museum, has halted all expenditure on the Kinross site to protect Trust funds. It appears that a problem emerged as the Kinross Curling Trust and Kinross Estates Company were working on the lease of the site for the new complex. The issue lies between the Estate Company and an adjacent land owner. Until this is resolved the Estate Company cannot give clear title to the site to the Trust.

That puts the project on hold meantime.

At an open meeting last Monday, trustee Jamie Montgomery advised those attending of the steps that the Estate Company is taking to secure an early amicable solution. However, he also indicated that the issue might have to be taken to the Lands Tribunal Scotland.

Trust Chairman Bob Tait says, "This information was put to the meeting to try to keep unhelpful speculation to a minimum as that might interfere with negotiations. The issues are sensitive and it is too soon to speculate on how this impacts on the timescale. I undertook to keep members informed of meaningful developments. In the meantime the Trust is seeking advice from its advisers on how it might help resolve the issues."

When outline planning permission was granted last November by Perth and Kinross Council, the Perthshire Advertiser described the project in an article here. There was perhaps just a hint in the last paragraphs that trouble might be ahead:

"A motion to approve The Muirs site was led by development control convener Willie Wilson: 'Obviously this is a major application in terms of Kinross and Perth and Kinross; equally so, it’s a sensitive site and has the potential to affect the setting of a number of areas, including the bowling green, golf club and surrounding houses. On balance I consider it to be appropriate to approve with the additional condition that appropriate mitigation measures are taken to protect the residential amenity of Woodlands (a house adjacent to the development site).' Councillor Wilson also called on the Kinross Curling Trustees to embark on a detailed consultation exercise with local residents as soon as possible."

Fundraising for the project nevertheless continues apace. The first eight months of fundraising has seen the Kinross Trust bank £62,900. Clubs are holding £16,700 earmaked for the project and events planned in the next few months are expected to raise around a further £20,000. The local target for fundraising is £250,000.

Of course, the main source of funding for the project is sportscotland. I understand that the Trust's application will be considered by the sportscotland Board at a meeting scheduled for April 28.

In an update on the project dated February 26, 2010, which is on the Trust's website here, the timetable for the project was the end of June 2010 for tenders to be invited, and the end of November 2010 for the start of the building works. This would need to happen to secure opening by September 2011. Total costs to get the project to the point where construction starts are estimated to be around £175,000 although over half of this has been spent (and paid for) just getting to the position the project is in today.

There's more information about the project on the Kinross Curling Trust website, which presumably will be updated with a report on Monday's meeting soon. There is information about who's who on the trustees here, although it is disappointing that this is incomplete. The same page leads to a link from where the Kinross Curling Trust Memorandum and Articles of Association can be downloaded.

The photo of the proposed site for the NCA was taken by me last summer and is © Skip Cottage

Kinross Curling Trust launches defensive action

Kinross has been something of a magnet for me so far this season. There's lots going on there, of course. Last weekend was the British Open Wheelchair Curling Championship. The international wheelies are back there next month (see here) and this weekend the juniors command the ice in the Kinross Junior Classic.

But Kinross is also centre stage in the biggest story in Scottish curling this year. I refer of course to the plans to construct Scotland's national curling centre in the town - a six sheet rink with associated training facilities for our elite curlers (and which will replace the aging existing rink and benefit the local curling community), offices for the Royal Club, and a curling museum. The project has not attracted universal support (see here and here). However, the interim trustees of the Kinross Curling Trust, which will own and run the facility, have seized the initiative by producing a ten page document entitled, 'Proposed National Curling Academy: FAQs and Common Misconceptions'. A draft of this was sent out to all on the Trust's mailing list, and was discussed at a meeting of representatives of local curling clubs at the Green Hotel last night.

The document addresses in detail the following:
1. What is the current position?
2. When is the proposed NCA facility liable to open?
3. Who will own the facility?
4. Will the trustees be remunerated?
5. What are the likely lease arrangements between Kinross Curling Trust and the owners of the site, Kinross Estate Company?
6. Why could the site not be purchased?
7. Why do we need to fund-raise locally?
8. Why is there a target of £250,000 to be raised locally?
9. Why have local clubs been set a task of raising at least the equivalent of £100 per playing member?
10. What happens if my club fails to reach the target? Will it be disadvantaged?
11. What happens to the money if the project does not go ahead?
12. Is there any form of co-ordination between clubs and the Kinross Curling Trust to prevent fund-raising events clashing?
13. What other fund-raising initiatives are planned by the Kinross Curling Trust itself?
14. How is the money going to be raised for the cost of building the facility?
15. Who is paying for the RCCC offices and the RCCC Charitable Trust Museum?
16. What happens if the amount raised falls short of the required amount.
17. Will the club curler end up paying more for his curling because of this new facility?
18. Why has the cost escalated from the original £3.25m to £5m?
19. Why is it estimated to cost £5m when the Fife Curling Trust reckon they can build their proposed rink in Cupar for £1.55m?
20. Why is the NCA so much bigger than the current Kinross facility or the proposed rink at Cupar?
21. Do we need these extra facilities such as a museum, gymnasium, offices etc. Why not just a curling rink?
22. £5million is a great deal to be spending on a single curling facility, albeit a National Curling Academy? Would this money not be better spent on building new, less expensive, curling rinks elsewhere (ie Cupar, Ratho)?
23. Who is involved in the design?
24. How much use will the National Squads make of the facility?
25. Will the club curlers be subsidising the National Squads?
26. Is a six sheet facility in Kinross justified?
27. What happens if the NCA does not go ahead?
28. Why could the Green Hotel Curling Rink not simply be refurbished rather than being replaced by this new facility?
29. What will the existing Green Hotel Curling Rink be used for once it closes?

Now, I am going to be a tease and not say here what the document gives as answers to these questions. For two reasons. Firstly, the whole document is going to be placed on the Kinross Curling Trust's website in the near future. And secondly, the document I have in front of me is but a draft, and is likely to be altered a little in the light of last night's meeting. Look out for it being posted on the Kinross Curling Trust website.

Suffice to say that the document goes a long way to countering the doubters. It would be uncharitable for me to say that it is somewhat late in coming. Those behind the project should not be having to mount a defensive action at this stage. Communication, openness, transparency, honesty - our sport is not always the best in these areas.

Still, I'm glad I went to Kinross last night. I learned more about the facility and how it might be run. On this last point, nothing is set in stone. The facility will be owned and operated by the Kinross Curling Trust, made up of members who will pay a membership fee. Six trustees will be elected by the members at the inaugural Kinross Curling Trust AGM on Sunday November 15 at 1.30pm at the Green Hotel. The Royal Club has the right to nominate three trustees, taking the total to nine. Incidentally, Founder Memberships are currently available for a donation of at least £25 (papers can be downloaded here), and you need to be a member to vote at the AGM.

It strikes me that this election will be the most important step in the whole process. I really hope people with skill, experience and enthusiasm are elected. The consequences are unthinkable if the management is poor. I learned last night that the trustees will probably set up an 'operating company' to look after the icemaking, catering and bar, and general maintenance of the facility. Details of course are lacking - all these decisions have to await the appointment of the nine trustees. Incidentally, Jamie Montgomery, current owner of the existing rink and hotel, stated publically last night that he would like to continue to be involved, having apparently said the opposite at a previous meeting.

As a concerned RCCC member, I had one question that I had to ask last night. "Is the business plan for the new complex robust enough?" The last thing I want to see is the facility go belly up in a few years time because speculations on ice usage and income have been over optimistic. I was assured by the two acting trustees who were present last night, Bob Tait and Jamie Montgomery, that the business plan is sound. Indeed, Bob indicated that it is currently being thoroughly examined by independent accountants. It is to be published too, after a key meeting with the VAT man later this month!

What will the complex be called? You could be the one to decide. A competition was launched last night, as a fundraiser, for the best name. I've entered! The name has to reflect the national importance of the complex for the sport in Scotland. And no, anything with 'folly' in the title is unlikely to be met sympathetically!

I'll wind up this post with two final concerns. Much of last night's meeting was about local fundraising. Yet the facility will have national importance. The RCCC Charitable Trust is set to launch its own fundraising activities for the museum part of the project. It is to be hoped that the two sets of fundraising don't trip over each other.

It is time too for the group who will benefit most - the top competitive curlers and those who aspire to reach the top - to speak out for the NCA. There is an implication in the recent RCCC Area Standing Committee minutes that some feel they don't need the Kinross facility. That implication is damaging in the extreme. I'm sure though it is just not true and it should be knocked on the head at the first opportunity.

Did I learn anything else at Kinross last night? Yes I did. There will be a new senior women's team in action this season, and I had the opportunity for an in depth interview. Well, not exactly. More of a gossip and a bit of a crack in the bar after the meeting! Which is the reason for the lateness of this report this morning! More on that story in due course, in the hope that Skip Cottage Curling will be on hand to record the activities of the over 50s during the season.

Wednesday Comment

Just one month ago, on my second post to this blog on August 30 (here), I expressed some reservations about the National Curling Academy project in Kinross. I've talked to many curlers in the last four weeks, and I know now that I'm not alone in wondering if this project is the right way ahead for the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

What I was surprised to learn this week was that the Royal Club's own Area Standing Committee has reservations about the project. The draft minutes of the ASC meeting on September 22 have just gone online here. I quote from these. "Matt Murdoch asked if there was any explanation for the rapidly escalating projected cost of the Kinross development. The current elite athletes were happy with the curling facilities at Stirling which were close to the other facilities of the Scottish Institute. In further discussion the ASC expressed severe doubts over the feasibility of the Kinross project with costs of over £5 million. The President undertook to convey the reservations of ASC to the Board."

The ASC provides the communication and representational route for member involvement in the management and administration of curling in Scotland. Members of the ASC take places on the various working committees of the RCCC and the ASC receives reports from all of the committees and the Board to allow information to be distributed through the area network. The ASC represents the rank and file members of the Royal Club.

In recent years the whole function of the ASC has come into question, and many have wondered if it performs any useful function at all, the Board making all the major decisions. Several committee members have openly expressed disillusionment of their position. New President Bill Marshall has pledged to change this. In the October Scottish Curler he suggests he would like to see all RCCC committees chaired by ASC members. He says, "The ASC has been sidelined a little bit by the Board. I'd like to redress the balance and place it at the heart of the Club's affairs."

I wonder if we are about to see the first major challenge to the RCCC Board by the ASC, triggered by the National Curling Academy. The minutes say that the ASC is having 'severe doubts over the feasibility of the Kinross project'. That's heavy stuff, indeed!

The building of the National Curling Academy in Kinross is the flagship project for the Royal Club Board at the present time. Outline planning permission is still awaited.

Like many others I was, until recently, very much in favour of the project which would provide new office accommodation for the sport's governing body, and a small curling museum, as well as the rink and facilities for the country's elite curlers.

A number of things have caused my present unease. Firstly, it has been seeing the published increase in costs of the project, from £3.25 million to over £5 million, apparently in the space of a few months. Here's how it has been explained to me. The £3.25m was the budget that was given to the project managers/architects. It was a 'best guess' as to what the facility with the specifications given might cost. The £3.25m did not include VAT which would take it up to over £3.8m – the current £5m does include VAT. VAT works both ways. If it does prove non-recoverable, then the project cost rises from £4.25m to £5m which means that the Kinross Curling Trust has to find the finance for the extra £750k in order to build the facility. The silver lining though would be that, for example, VAT would not be payable by the Trust on the ice charges which would save about £50k per annum on the bottom line and significantly improve its financial viability.

The current £5m estimate follows detailed costings of the Archial plans by Turner and Townsend, the project managers. This could be a cautious estimate. The true cost will only be ascertained when it goes out to tender. The expectations are that the eventual successful quote will come in somewhat lower.

Given this uncertainty over what the project will cost takes me back to the bid last year. The announcement was made on October 16, 2008, see here. The Kinross bid was accepted then, by a special Royal Club sub committee, in preference to Ratho, even though the latter had been accompanied by a business plan, architect plans, outline planning permission, and members' fundraising was already in place. I have never learned exactly why the decision went to Kinross. It does seem somewhat odd. If I'm making a major purchase, the one thing that governs my decision is what it will cost. But cost does not seem to have been a key factor in the decision that was made last year!

Of course, it is not the Royal Club which will run the National Curling Academy. That will be the Kinross Curling Trust. What has been singularly lacking is some good PR from both these bodies to counter the doubters!

What's bothering curlers throughout Scotland is the confusion between building a good curling facility with four sheets to replace the existing Kinross rink, and the National Curling Academy project with its six sheeter, as well as the offices, museum, gym and meeting facilities. Particularly in respect of fundraising. It would seem that the current cost of the former, built to a high standard, could be much less than £2 million. Is an additional £3 million good value for money for the NCA part of the project? And do we really need the two extra sheets in Kinross?

But I think the most significant point made in the ASC minutes is that, "The current elite athletes were happy with the curling facilities at Stirling which were close to the other facilities of the Scottish Institute."

If this statement is correct, and if the top curlers in the country are satisfied with what we currently have, then why are we pursuing the National Curling Academy at all?

The next RCCC Board meeting is on October 13. It will be interesting to see how the Board responds to the ASC's concerns, and if it will seek then to reassure us, the members, that it's not heading for a costly disaster.

Top photo is of the proposed site for the NCA in Kinross © Skip Cottage.

Kinross update

Let's be quite clear, I would love to see Scotland have its National Curling Academy. The saga has been ongoing for seven years or more. I believe it was Greenaces and Braehead in the frame at first. Then Stirling. It was in October last year that Kinross won the bid over Ratho to be the site for a new six sheet rink which will also provide facilities for Scotland's elite teams. The new complex is also to be the new home for the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, the governing body of the sport in Scotland, and there will also be a small museum of curling history.

I attended an open meeting about the project at the Windlestrae Hotel in Kinross on February 5, see here. At that time the projected cost was £3.2 million. I am appalled to learn that this figure has now reached over £5 million. In just seven months! The questions have to be asked. Why was the original estimate so much in error, or why has the cost increased in so short a time?

What has prompted this post is that former RCCC Chairman Bob Tait, who remains one of the trustees of the Kinross Curling Trust, distributed by email on Friday a report of a meeting with local club representatives held on August 17 at the Green Hotel.

Twenty-eight people attended, representing fourteen of the clubs in Loch Leven Province. In addition, Kinross Curling School, Kinross Ladies Centre and the Area Curling Development Officer were represented. From the Kinross Curling Trust were Jamie Montgomery, Bob Tait, Alistair McCabe, Linda Young, Mary Morgan and Angela Wilcox.

One significant thing is that the projected date for the completion of the project is the beginning of the 2011-12 season, and not next year, as was hoped for at February's meeting.

I have summarised Bob Tait's report below.

Outline planning permission was made in mid June and that process is continuing. As indicated above, costs are estimated now to be 'in the order of £5m assuming that most of the VAT proves non recoverable'. Cost savings are to be pursued. Funding is being sought from sportscotland and other grant giving public bodies, whilst the RCCC and the RCCC Trust will be responsible for the cost of the office and museum respectively.

The purpose of the recent meeting was to get local fund-raising efforts underway, it being stressed that this area is important when grant-awarding bodies come to assess funding applications. A 'challenging' target is to raise £250,000 (or 5% of the present estimated cost) from local sources, via Kinross Curling Trust activities, local curling clubs, individuals and local companies. The Kinross Curling Trust itself now has an active team led by Linda Young which is pursuing fund-raising ideas on behalf of the Trust. A date has been fixed for the first of these - a BBQ on September 11 at Loch Leven’s Larder, cost £15. A raffle, dinner and auction and fashion show are being planned.

Local curling clubs have been encouraged to identify their own fundraising ideas within each local community with the aim of raising by June 30, 2010, a minimum of £100 per member.

The Kinross Curling Trust’s first AGM will be held in December 2009 at which a fully constituted Board of Trustees will be elected. The Trust’s Constitution dictates that the Trustees are elected by the Members. From the start of the new season in mid September, there will be a campaign to persuade local curlers to take out membership of the Kinross Curling Trust which amongst other things will entitle them to vote at the AGM.

A promotional video of the proposed facility is being considered for national and international promotion. A curling development plan is being drawn up for the next three years at Kinross, with a strong focus on schools.

A further local club fund-raising meeting has been arranged for Tuesday, October 6, at 7 pm in the Green Hotel.

No punches have been pulled in the tone of the meeting report. "It was pointed out that local Curling Clubs really must look to ‘pull their weight’ in this fund-raising process if they wish curling in the area to continue beyond the next few years. The existing curling facility at the Green Hotel is rapidly reaching the end of its life and is highly unlikely to be refurbished due to the prohibitive £1m+ cost of bringing the building up to standard and replacing the plant and machinery."

What confuses me somewhat is that the rationale for a new curling centre at Kinross was as a National Curling Academy, and not primarily as a replacement for the existing Kinross rink. Naively, I had assumed over the past seven years, that funding was more or less in place for a National Academy to be built, somewhere. But obviously not.

A replacement four-sheeter to keep curling in the Kinross area would not cost £5 million! What is the paragraph above intended to do? Scare the local clubs? Bully them? Send them to Cupar? Encouraging club members to help would surely have been better than telling people to 'pull their weight'? It could have been worded better, surely.

Perhaps it is just me, but I thought it rather defeatist to include the sentence, "The troubled economic climate together with the relatively high age profile of curlers will add to the challenge of galvanising local curlers into action but that was felt to be no excuse for not giving it our best shot." Are the local curlers all about to die off? Does whoever wrote this think that 'older people' are not enthusiastic about their sport, or that these curlers don't have the time or energy to get involved in fundraising activities? The more I read this sentence the more angry I get!

The plans for the complex are available from the Kinross Curling Trust's website. I'm no expert in being able to imagine what architects' drawings are going to turn into when the building is constructed. For me, what is important is how good the ice will be. And that the architects don't make the mistakes they made at Curl-Aberdeen.

Not everyone is impressed though about how the proposed building will look. Check out this blogger's take on Archial's designs!

There's been a thread about the National Curling Academy on the Scottish Curling Forum for a while, see here.

I said back in February that I was excited that the National Curling Academy was finally going to happen. Why am I having doubts tonight?

By all means share your thoughts by commenting below, or in the Scottish Curling Forum. Note that you need to be registered on Blogger to comment below (this is easy to do), although you can make your comments anonymously if you chose to do so.

Kinross photo is by Bob.