Refurbishment complete at hall

A Carrick Orange hall has completed a major transformation following a grant boost from the Big Lottery Fund.

King William III Memorial Orange Hall on the Albert Road underwent refurbishment over the past 12 months to bring it up to modern day energy efficiency standards.

In 2011, the management committee of the landmark building applied for the BLF’s energy efficient venues grant scheme, which provides financial assistance to community venues seeking to improve energy efficiency measures.

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Thanking the Big Lottery Fund for the assistance, a spokesperson said: “We knew the hall was hugely inefficient simply because it did not retain any of the heat being generated whilst it was suffering from a severe ingress of damp due to the wear and tear on the external brickwork façade. The heating bills were exorbitant; we tried to combat the issues by using more energy as we burnt more gas to compensate. It was simply a worsening vicious circle.

“Fortunately for us the Big Lottery Fund decided in 2012 that we were worthy of support and as a result awarded us £50,000 to make the necessary changes which included re-pointing the exterior walls, upgrading the roof covering, upgrading the windows with new energy efficient glazed units, installing thermal insulation on the internal walls, upgrading the lighting with energy efficient lighting and upgrading the old boilers on our heating system by replacing with new energy efficient boilers. Finally we replaced the old appliances with new energy efficient appliances to provide the final touches.”