Welcome to SVGCA(Inc) News.

We have set up our web-site at probably the most important moment of the Association’s history since the mid-1950's, when we completed most of our post World War 2 building programme. We have started building the first of a planned 60 or so disabled friendly, single storey or single floor houses, spread over a number of locations across Scotland. These are needed to meet the growing demand for houses from those younger Veterans who are casualties of the conflicts of the last 25 years, from the Falklands through to the ongoing ones in Iraq and Afghanistan. The formal launch of the appeal to raise a target of £6 million to fund this building programme took place in the presence of the First Minister Alex Salmond in Edinburgh, 30th April 2008. We are grateful for any donations from individuals or groups.

If you feel able to help us please click on the link;

SVCGA(Inc) Donation Form

Alternatively we would be happy to send you an information pack. Please email us at:[email protected]

  No2 NEWSLETTER April 09

The Aim of this Newsletter is to both update those who have already supported us and to inform potential donors on progress with our ‘Houses for Heroes’ Appeal.

This second edition of our bi-annual Newsletter is issued just short of a year after the official launch of the Appeal in the presence of the First Minister for Scotland at Edinburgh Castle on 30 April 2008. Thanks to the support of many hugely generous donors we can look back on some major achievements in that year which, taken together, gives us great confidence for the coming year and the continuing challenge of reaching our target to raise £6M to provide 60, two bedroom, wheelchair friendly houses, at various site across Scotland, by the end of 2012.

As at 1 April 2009 we had received or been pledged a total of £2,613,500 or 43.5% towards the target we have set ourselves. There remain a number of encouraging holding replies from charities and other organizations across the Country which, providing their funding allows, will take the total past the £3M mark or over halfway towards our aim. Our expenditure on the Appeal, all from Association not Appeal funds, remains at less than 0.31% of the money that has been raised. The wonderful response from our supporters, for which we are very grateful, has allowed us to press ahead with the ‘Houses for Heroes’ building programme which is, of course, the purpose of the Appeal. The current state of play is given below.

Phase 1.  The four flats at Motherwell were completed, less the car park and landscaping, and handed over to the Association on 15 December 2008. Our first two tenants, a former Warrant Officer in The Royal Signals who had lost the lower part of a leg and one eye in a traffic accident near the end of his 22 years service, and a 23 year old soldier from The Royal Regiment of Scotland who was having to be discharged from the Army as a result of severe wounds received from a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, were in their flats by Christmas. The external works are now complete and the formal opening is to be on 16 May.

Phase 2.  After long, and sometimes frustrating, delays we at last received full planning permission on 18 March for the 10 flats to be built at New Scone just North East of Perth. As we had previously obtained the necessary building warrants, site preparation can start at the end of this month with actual building work beginning in August.  Building should be complete, and the flats available for occupation, in April 2010.

Phase 3.  All consents are now in place for the four bungalows to be built at Penicuik, some eight miles south of Edinburgh. Tender information is now being prepared to be sent to selected house builders in early May with, subject to a satisfactory quote, building starting in July for a planned completion in March 2010. It is possible that some or all of these bungalows will be offered in direct support of the first of the Army’s planned seven ‘Recovery Centres’, the pilot project for which, for twelve soldiers, is to be based in Edinburgh from August this year. In very simple terms the Centres are intended to provide a further stage for those who have completed their stay at The Defence Medical Rehabilitation Unit at Headley Court but need further time in the recovery process, and possibly some retraining for continuing service in the Army or preparation for a return to civilian life. We are in the early stages of talks with the Army to see if the bungalows could be of help to these very special people by providing family accommodation for those attending the Centre who might otherwise be separated from their families, through distance and unsuitable accommodation in relation to their disability, for many months.

Phase 4a.  This new phase comprises, first, the total renovation, refurbishment and conversion to full wheelchair disability standard of two of our existing bungalows at Airdrie to the East of Glasgow. Planning and building warrant applications have been lodged and, as soon as permission is received, we will go out to tender for the work. We hope that work will start in late June with a completion date in early October. Phase 4b is the build of a semi-detached pair of new bungalows on our land to the rear of those at 4a. We are presently working up the drawings to apply for planning permission for these with a planned start date in the autumn if our cash-flow permits.

Provided all our time targets are met we should have completed 22 houses towards our target of 60 by the summer of 2010 – just over two years since the launch of the Appeal. While this is not too far short of that forecasted in our business plan drawn up in June 2007, it is still far short of our target of 60 houses by the end of 2012. We fully realise the challenge that still lies ahead of us, both in fundraising and in locating and obtaining sites for the remainder of the planned phases. These are in present order, but with the proviso that the order could change if sites become available:

Phase 5.  3-5 houses in the Inverness/Highland area. We are continuing discussions with Defence Estates over the possible use of a site on the edge of RAF Kinloss, near Forres, some 25 miles East of Inverness, and also with builders and private landowners in the area who may have sites available.

Phase 6.  Up to 4 houses, possibly in the Stirling area if a site can be identified.

Phases 7-9.  These comprise the balance of houses up to the planned total of 60. While all are presently intended for the Greater Glasgow area it is possible that, as with Phase 4a at Airdrie, we may adapt four existing bungalows within the ongoing major refurbishment programme running for our 36 houses at Broughty Ferry, east of Dundee. Although this is our third largest District it presently has no wheelchair adapted houses, for which there is an existing and growing demand.

This completes our ‘Houses for Heroes’ Appeal update as at 1 April 2009. Without your help we could not have begun to get near to where we are today, for which we thank you enormously. Our next Newsletter will be published in October. In the meantime regular updates, and further information on donating, can be found on our web-site at www.housesforheroes.org.uk