Temporary Move & Building Update
Dear <<First Name>>,
It's been a while since we've updated you with the latest situation here in Leeds, so this is a special news update about firstly, the temporary move in September and secondly, about progress with purchasing our own building.
We'll send out more news next week about the autumn programme and all the exciting events we have planned!
With Love from Kerry and all at Jamyang Leeds
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We're Moving
As you may remember, our current landlord has asked us to move out by the end of September, so we've found a similar location in the city centre to move to.
Our new address from 24th September will be: 12 York Place, Leeds, LS1 2DS. As you can see from the picture below, it's literally just around the corner from where we are now.
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Help With the Move
Can you help?
- Saturday 22nd - Sunday 23rd September we'll be packing up Saint Paul's Street. We need as many people as possible to pack the whole centre into boxes and bags.
- Monday 24th September: the actual moving day. We need help especially people who can lift things and help reassemble at 12 York Place.
- Tuesday 25 - Sunday 30 September. All classes will be cancelled that week as we take care to return Saint Paul's Street to a clean and tidy space and put 12 York Place together.
If you can help at any of these times, especially 22-24th, please contact smile@jamyangleeds.co.uk. Marie-Odille will be coordinating the move but we'll all be there helping.
We've initially signed a 6-month lease, so whatever happens with Clyde Works, we'll be there with classes as usual for that time. York Place isn't as perfect in layout as Saint Paul's Street, but it's still a lovely space which is going to be lovely to study and meditate in. Keep an eye on the website and facebook for changes.
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Clyde Works
Our efforts to purchase a building are moving ahead, we've been doing a lot of work in the background since we last wrote. Here are some things that are happening right now:
- The owners have agreed a rent-back agreement of the warehouse space which will help cover mortgage repayments for the first 18 months.
- The sale had to include VAT (an extra £80,000) so it's almost certain we'll have to become VAT registered to be able to claim this back. We've hired a VAT consultant to talk us through the process.
- We lost an architect, but gained another: so the change of use planning permission will be submitted in a few weeks and we expect to have a decision within 8 weeks of the submission date. This is permission to create a cafe, shop, accommodation for volunteers which wasn't in the space before.
- The mortgage lender is instructing a survey, which will indicate what extra survey we need to do, we'll need for example a full roof survey. We expect to have this done in September.
- Feng Shui expert Ven. Jampa Lhundrup is coming to teach in Leeds in the first week of September and will spend a couple of hours looking at our plans for the property.
- Lama Monlam's visit to perform the pujas at the property will probably not happen now until Spring 2019 due to his health.
As you can see, it's a complex project and certainly the biggest thing JBCL has ever taken on. Please support us through this process with your prayers and dedications, tara praises and pujas, donations, and offers of time/skills. We all need to work together to make this happen.
The two main things now are the surveys and planning permission. The trustees will make the final decision on the purchase once these are completed.
Potentially, we could complete the sale by end of November this year. Which would mean we have time to re-fit Clyde Works whilst also having the city centre at York Place. But don't quote us on that - impermanence being what it is!
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Dagri Rinpoche said some prayers for the project during his recent visit to Leeds. Geshe Samten and Geshe Tenzin (attendants) are also pictured here reciting prayers.
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Strategic Planning at Clyde Works
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Thanks to all those who came to view the property in July. It was actually a really inspiring event. It was the first time we could sit in the space and think about how this project is going to work. There was a lot of creative ideas about how we could help the local area, maintain our Buddhist classes and about using the cafe and shop space better.
We've now made some changes in the layout which came from the meeting, and this will be submitted to the council in our change of use planning permission application.
The meeting had a sense of being 'pioneers' in something vast and exciting. Lots of concerns too, but we talked through them openly and carefully and we all came away feeling very positive about the potential of Jamyang Leeds and its future there.
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Fundraising - Phase II
We've had some initial quotes about the work needed to transform the space into what we'd like. It's always more than you think of course!
The biggest costs will be to create a living area for live-in volunteers and fitting a cafe kitchen on the ground floor. We also have some repair work to do but it doesn't appear to be extensive despite the size.
With this in mind, we're going to stop fundraising for the building costs itself now as we've raised all the money for purchase due to the mortgage. Instead, we're now going to start a new phase of fundraising so we can create the space inside. We're currently estimating this to be around £100,000. We can, of course, do this in stages, and there are funding options we are also looking into.
We'll officially launch this fundraising campaign in the next few weeks.
The main thing is the merit, so please keep dedicating. And it's especially important to rejoice about how far we've come in this project. Thanks to your support, we've made an offer on a building and are almost ready to move in - we never thought we'd get this far so quickly, so please rejoice and let's plan this amazing Buddhist centre together.
As always, please contact Kerry the Director (director@jamyangleeds.co.uk) or any of the trustees (trustees@jamyangleeds.co.uk) if you would like to chat.
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