All systems go for Sellafirth community hub project after £300k funding boost
WORK on a new community hub in Yell could be finished by the end of March – with significant government funding awarded for the project.
North Yell Development Council (NYDC) is starting work on turning two units at the Sellafirth business park into a community hub.
It has received nearly £300,000 from the Scottish Government for the project.
NYDC development manager Alice Mathewson said the plan is to turn the units into one building.
One end will be designated for social and business development, including an office for NYDC as well as space for community projects.
There will also be secure storage for both NYDC and other community groups.
Mathewson said there is something of a “carrier bag culture” in North Yell – “if you’re the chairman of the hall one year, you hand the carrier bag to the chairman of the hall next year”.
Therefore a secure storage stage should help local community groups, she said.
There are a couple of workshops/garages there, but these will be turned into proper rooms.
One will be a computer suite, with Mathewson saying the aim is to set up a training centre after the UHI stopped hosting learning centres in the North Isles.
“It’s also going to double up as a digital heritage unit,” she added.
“We’ve set up a heritage group for North Yell, and they’re going to be looking at things like videos, pictures, dialect – stuff you can store digitally.”
The other workshop/garage will be a craft workshop.
And then at the other end of the building will be an exhibition or performance area.
This could provide craft producers a space to exhibit, while there could also be other displays or “peerie Shetland nights” too.
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Mathewson said in addition to this could be a tourist information point, and a space for a business start-up.
She said the building will be “carbon neutral”, with solar panels on the roof, new insulation and triple glazing all set to feature.
There will also be two electric vehicle chargers outside, including one for the public.
The development council had already received nearly £100,000 from the Scottish Land Fund to buy the units.
NYDC is a self-sustaining community development group which reinvests income from its five-turbine Garth wind farm.
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