Phase 1 of hall revamp finally complete

AFTER a six year fight for funding, the Yellowwood Park Civic Hall boasts a fresh coat of white paint, new aluminum windows and repaired boundary fence.

Gavin Hegter, the ward 64 councillor, said the renovation of the hall was a culmination of a long fight but was glad that the hall was on the road to being restored to its former glory.

He said the hall was built when Yellowwood Park was a separate borough, and the residents of the area raised money to build it under their health committee more than 20 years ago.

“However, post 1994, all small municipalities and health committees amalgamated under the umbrella of eThekwini Municipality and all buildings went to the municipality. Over the years, like most municipal structures, it has been neglected and got into a shocking state. There were some maintenance and repairs done over the years. The hall was last painted in 2014, however, it was a poorly done job and the paint was of inferior quality. Within a year, it didn’t even look like it had been painted.

“If you leave something, it is just going to degrade until it is beyond repairs. Fortunately, we were given approval from the municipality to use the block-sum funding, which is the community improvement funding.
“The funding is in fact the only money that a councillor has direct say over what it can be used for, such as capital projects in their ward,” he said.

Hegter said phase one of the renovation started in June, and is expected to be completed at the end of August.
“We wanted to keep the same appeal, but most of the wooden windows were beyond repairs, so it was replaced with aluminum windows, the entire building has been painted, and where the fence was damaged due to two different accidents, the retaining walls have been repaired and the fencing put back up.

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“It is really looking great and a positive step as we eventually managed to get it done. This hall has been used by the community for years, and has been hired out for various events, such as weddings, funerals, church services, and was utilised by the badminton club for many years,” he said.

Hegter said they were going to start phase two of the renovations, which includes replacing the balance of windows, as well as cleaning and repairing the roof.
“We also want to clean-up the garden and verges around the hall, which we have requested the parks department to attend to. I am looking forward to the hall being fully-restored and utilised by the community again,” he said.