LANCEFIELD Neighbourhood House will be able to get a much-needed refresh thanks to $20,000 of funding from the federal government’s Stronger Communities Program.
Member for McEwen Rob Mitchell made a surprise announcement for the funding at the Feed it Forward launch on October 30.
The funding will go towards improvements modernising the lighting, heating and cooling as well as updating the interior and flooring.
Lancefield Neighbourhood House coordinator Vivien Philpotts said the 130-year-old building is incredibly sound for its age, but needs some modernisation.
“We don’t actually have heating in every room and with gas heating, we have to have air flow, which means the building isn’t very environmentally sustainable,” she said.
“We’ll be able to do some draught proofing to make it more energy efficient and so we can have heating in every room.”
As the house is still on bottled gas, making it more energy efficient would also reduce costs along the way.
In the 30 years the Lancefield Neighbourhood House has occupied the building, Ms Philpotts guessed it might never have received a professional paintjob.
“Any painting that’s happened has been by volunteers. It’s been very much a grassroots community paintjob so we’ve had lots of fun colours but it hasn’t been professionally painted in 30 years,” she added.
Mr Mitchell said the House plays an integral role in the town, providing services, courses and a central meeting place to residents and groups.
“This funding, matched by in-kind donations and funds raised by the Neighbourhood House, will make a massive difference to the daily operation of the House,” he said.
“We are thrilled to make their space more habitable and importantly a lot safer, through these updates.”
