Nairn charity Green Hive about to embark on £1.5m project to regenerate Seaman’s Victoria Hall in the Fishertown
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Nairn charity, Green Hive has come out of the pandemic on a strong footing with nearly £500k worth of grant funding, donations, and trading income having been generated since it was formed just a few years ago.
This along with seven members of staff and two new posts to be created this autumn is seeing this charity bring local people together to improve green spaces around Nairn.
The charity is about to embark on a £1.5 million project to regenerate the Seaman’s Victoria Hall in the Fishertown.
The aim is to create a community and environmental sustainability hub that embraces the heritage of the Fishertown while providing a supportive space to bring people together and reduce isolation.
It will also offer space for learning and skills development, retail space to support upcycled products made in the Green Hive workshop, support for micro businesses to trial retailing of their eco products and provide a way for locals and visitors to take up more active travel, using Green Hive’s e-bike hire and activities offered by partner organisations.
Simon Noble, chairman of Green Hive, said: “It has been immensely rewarding to see Green Hive grow, create so many volunteering opportunities, employment for so many and help local people make a difference to their own environment.
“The ambition to create a community hub is something I recall being discussed at our earliest meetings in 2016 and the plans we now have in hand will allow us to exceed that.
“The joy is that so many people support that vision. We are excited to be getting started on regenerating the hall, which in 1890 was described as ‘a centre of good [for] the whole town’.”
Green Hive has a board of nine trustees to steer and develop the charity. Simon added two of the newest trustees were born and brought up in Fishertown and the board has an average of 24 years per member associated with the community of Nairn.
“The hall project will be developed over the next two years with full development completed in 2025,” he continued. “Green Hive’s philosophy is that if the people of Nairnshire and the local environment are thriving then the charity is succeeding. Since the organisation was founded in 2015 over 10 per cent of the population of Nairn have volunteered at one of the many activities and events – from beach cleaning, plastic workshops, and invasive species clearing to fabrics workshops and growing food.
“Green Hive is positively impacting the people and the environment to ensure that it can make an impact locally on environmental change.”
In one short period of six months as lockdown eased Green Hive welcomed over 740 visitors through the doors of its workshop alone and volunteers gave over 336 hours of their time to recycling and repurposing discarded plastics and textiles. This diverted 5700kgs of waste from landfill.
The charity works with public agencies, third sector organisations and the business sector and welcomes support from businesses, which can be provided in a variety of ways.
This year the charity took on a large commercial contract to build recycled plastic benches and raised beds for Inverness Botanic gardens.
