HQ Building Work Progress Page

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Welcome to the story of the upgrade project at our HQ Building in Wroxham.

Our old HQ building in Wroxham was opened in 1987 after a huge fund raising effort. It has served us well since that time and a lot of Scouting has been done there. However, since that time, the numbers of young people in the Group has grown a lot, and also, 21st Century expectations of what a building should provide have moved on too. Because of this, we decided that the building needed an upgrade and so work on the building began in November 2023 and in November 2024, we moved back into our brand new building.

Improvements to the building included: New toilets and showers. A larger main hall with a new higher roof. A double height extension with extra meeting space and storage. A climbing wall. An outside covered area. Additional car parking. A "Chill out zone". Planning permission was granted at the end of April 2023 and we  secured the necessary grant funding. For a Press Release about the Grant, Click Here.

Scouts building the HQ in 1987

This is an artist's impression of what the new building would look like. Sunny Petch did the artwork.

Building work began in November 2023 in rather wet conditions for doing groundworks.

7th Dec Update.
Work has started on site and fences have been put up. Currently, the diggers are in preparing the ground works.


Update - 17th Dec 2023

The Foundations of the rear extension are progressing well.

Update - 9th January 2024

The Christmas break is now over and work is again progressing on site.

The Foundations of the front extension are complete and the drains are being worked on.


The back extension is up to DPC level and the big holes are filled in

Update - 15th Jan 2024

The edge of the field is landscaped ready for the side cover

The area round the camp fire circle is landscaped

The plan for the rest of January is to complete the ground works over the whole site and to get ready for the building phase.

Update 4th Feb

Work has started on the front extension

Groundworks are now nearly complete with the current focus being on the new car park at the back of the building. The base for and the path to the new Annexe are completed.

Update 13th Feb

The rear extension and car park are progressing


The front extension is also growing


The new wheelchair friendly path is complete


The base for the chill out zone is in place

Update 24th Feb

Inside the old building with everything stripped out ready for the roof to be removed.

Building work update 28th Feb

The building is now covered with scaffolding and the old roof is being removed. The base for the new car park is complete.

Building work update 4th March

The roof has been removed and there are skips everywhere

View from the field side. Demolition work still in progress


The gable end is being demolished. This will be replaced with timber stud.


Inside with no roof


Lots of demolition rubble


View from the old kitchen hatch. This will be there in the new building.


The space inside already looks a lot bigger with the back rooms demolished and the ceiling gone.

Building work update 8th March

The old offices have been removed and now you can see how big the new hall is going to be.


The next stage is fitting the steels which will support the new roof and building the new outside walls


This is the most demolished stage. The building will start to grow from here.

Building work update 12th March

Blocks are stacked ready for building the walls. Full scaffolding will follow.


Porous tarmac is laid


The roller gets the car park nice and flat.

Building work update 26th March

The work is coming to a complicated stage where the side walls and supports for the roof have to be got right.

Experts discuss the plans


Calculations are done.

Building Work Update 11th April

The view from the scaffolding:

The side walls are now being built


Blocks are stacked ready for construction of the walls


Phil (builder) explains the details to Matt (QS) and Roger (Architect)

Chill out zone construction work April 24

The Chill out Zone or Annexe is a kit building. It was built by Scout Volunteers and the Scouts themselves. It is very important for the young people of the Group to take part in the construction of the new HQ. They specified what was wanted and it is good to be hands on building part of it.

The wooden base is held together with loads of screws


These posts support the walls and roof


Now the wall panels go in






Young people help with the construction. They built the lintel and it is staying up well.


The door frame goes in.


Those roof panels are heavy, but with a good team they are no problem.


The roof is secured to the walls


Those long screws hold the roof on. Terry in action with the impact driver.


The last panel fits perfectly


The last roof screws go in


After 2 days it is looking like a complete job. There is still work to do but that is for another weekend.

Building Work Update 24th April

After another weekend of building, our Scout volunteer team have almost got the Annexe finished.

Roof parts and joists are delivered to site


Despite the bad weather, the internal block work is progressing

Building Work Update 10th May

Block work and steel work progressing on the main hall


The new toilets and showers under construction


The 2 story offices extension is up to the first floor.

Building Work Update 21st May

The block work in the walls is getting higher and is almost up to roof level. New floor beams go in for the loft storage area above the kitchen and toilets.

You can really see how much higher the hall is going to be and what a great space it is.

Building Work Update 11th June

Rain has been causing all sorts of problems for the building team. It really has been a wet spring so far. Despite this, lots of progress has been made. The walls are completed apart from the gable ends and these are nearly done. The scaffolding has been extended and the roof is taking shape.

The view from the gate. The new size of the building is now clear.

The inside view shows just how much bigger the space is and how much rain there has been.


The roof over the upstairs room is being built under threatening skies


The scaffolding is in place to allow the vaulted roof over the hall to be assembled.


The roof structure over the loft shows where the Velux windows will be fitted.


Roger the Architect inspecting progress


Getting ready for the back roof and gable.

Building Work Update 29th June

At last some decent weather. Warm sunshine has brought real progress:

All the roof beams are in place and the lower walls are rendered


Render going on the internal walls. You can see above the barn door hatch to the loft.


The gable ends are complete and insulation is being fitted to the roof.


Looking through the window into the upstairs room


The loft storage space can be seen between the beams

Building Work Update 11th July

We are watertight and work can begin inside:

The roof is battened and temporary windows fitted


Ready for tiles

The floor is ready for pouring the screed

Experts discuss the metal stairs

Further Update 12th July

The floor screeds are poured and the front and back of the building. They will dry over the weekend and will look fantastic.

Downstairs office


Stairwell and back door


Front entrance hallway, kitchen and toilets

Building Work Update 20th July

Good weather continues to bring good progress. Our volunteer team has been working over the weekend to get the Annexe building ready for second fix electrics. The electrician and the plumber are now working inside the main building and the roof is tiled.

The roof is now fully tiled and looks great with its Velux windows.


The steel work is now in place for the covered verandah along the side of the building. The roof will go on when the scaffolding is taken down.


The Annexe is really looking finished now.


The internal walls and floor have been fitted ready for the 2nd fix electrics.


Still a bit of work to do but you can see what a good space this is going to be.

Building Work Update 30th July

The good weather has continued and the building is watertight so lots of work is going on inside as well as outside.

The internal scaffolding is still in place while the ceiling is plastered and painted


The solar panels have been fitted on the roof

The inverter for the solar system is installed in the loft

There are wires, water pipes and an RSJ installed in the roof above the toilets.

The kitchen has been delivered but it is still in flatpack form.

Cables and pipes are fitted in the kitchen room.

More cables in the front hallway

The scaffolding is lowered so that the cedar cladding can be fitted. The roof is now complete.

Building Work Update 5th August

The good weather is holding and work has begun on the external cedar cladding. Inside the floor has been poured in the main hall and the internal scaffolding has been removed. This means that the size of the main hall is revealed for the first time. It certainly looks good. Electrical work inside continues. The doors and windows are due next week.

Above - Cedar cladding the rear of the building. Right- The ceiling is ready except for the lights

The side is battened ready for cedar cladding


Preparing the area under the verandah for rendering


The new floor is down and the full size and height of the main hall is now visible.


Looking down the main hall towards the rear of the building. The end wall will soon have the climbing wall fitted to it. The Velux windows in the roof will bring lots of light into the building. The lower block work on the left and right will be painted.


Scaffolding is being removed at the front.


Cedar cladding is complete on the front of the building. We are using boards of 3 different widths to give this effect.

Building Work Update 19th August

Cedar cladding is complete. The side covered area is almost finished. The kitchen is in. The climbing wall installation is complete and the doors and windows are in. There is still a lot to do but progress is really good.

Looking towards the back of the hall and the new climbing wall.


Looking towards the front. The floor has been sanded and rendering work is in progress

The solar electrics are in place

The loft hatch doors still need their safety rails

Work continues in the loft


The view from the loft hatch


The cedar cladding is complete and looking good


The roof of the covered side area is being battened and tiled.

Building Work Update 28th August

The scaffolding has been removed and now you can see what the final building will look like. There is still work to be done outside, but the rendering and cedar cladding are looking fantastic. Inside, the walls are being rendered and plastered.

Front view on a sunny day. The cedar cladding looks great.


There are still ground works to do and all those cables show that the 2nd fix electrics has not been done yet.


Rendering work on the end wall. Below the horizontal line, the render top coat will be blue.

Rendering the entrance hall

Plastering the stairwell.

The back of the building with the scaffolding gone. Doors, windows and cladding all looking good.


The covered area at the side is complete. There are still ground works to be done in this area.

Building Work Update 2nd September

The concrete paths round the building are being installed. Parallel Fabrications are installing the metal stairs. Rendering and plastering work continues throughout the building.

Preparing for the concrete floor under the side covered area


Inside the main hall

Digger leveling the ballast	Rendering the accessible toilet
Rendering the toilets	Ready for the loft hatch railings

Parallel Fabrications start getting the stairs ready for installation


The half landing looks like a sort of table at first. There will be storage underneath.

Now the stairs start assembly	Looks like the measurements were right.
	All you have to do is sort out the right bits

Some of the stair treads are now in place

Small office now plastered. As you can see, this room is where all the telecomms cables go.

The electric loft hatch is now in place. The ladder will descend at the touch of a button.

View from the kitchen hatch

Building Work Update 12th September

The work outside the building is being completed. The concrete surround is in place and the temporary buildings removed. The grass has been cut and graded.
Inside the decorators are busy painting, The main walls are white with navy blue at the bottom. The stairs and the storage space under them are complete. The section cupboards in the hallway are under construction.
The target for completion remains the end of the month.

The lean to verandah is finished and the concrete surround is poured


The field side is graded to the concrete


The front entrance slope is in place and the temporary buildings are gone. The wall will have a handrail.


The lower parts of the walls will be navy blue


This is just the undercoat for the blue render


The side walls being painted


The steel beams will be blue

Matt (QS), Phil (builder) and Roger (Architect) discussing	Safety railings in the loft area
Cupboards under construction	Small downstairs room decorated
Small upstairs room being decorated	Painting above the stairs

Office is decorated


The large upstairs room is decorated

Building Work Extra Update 13th September

A real milestone has been reached today. It has been such a long time since we had electrical power in the building. Now, at last, the power has been connected. We also have internet connected thanks to Openreach. One of the fun things that this means is that we now have our CCTV cameras working and we can watch what is happening on site remotely in real time. This will be an interesting watch as the building work progresses. It also means that our remotely monitored alarm system is up and running which considerably increases the security of the site. Decorating work is progressing well inside the building and the car park has been leveled and landscaped ready for new surfacing.

Building Work Update 24th September

The building work is nearly complete. Electrical work continues along with plumbing and decorating. Outside the car park has new gravel and the land has been graded and leveled.

The car park is looking good. Still need to fix handrails by the front door.


This is inside the loft storage area.

The loft ladder is electric remote controlled	It folds up and closes its own hatch
Wash basins going in.	Lights are fitted to the roof.

The climbing wall has had 2 coats of fire proof paint


Outside all the levels are sorted out.


The air source heat pump is in place.


The walls at the kitchen end are decorated and completed


The hall lights are in and on.

Building Work Update 2nd October

The building is virtually completed now. We are just waiting for the screed to be dry enough in the toilets to put the floor down and for the metal handrails to arrive. With a bit of luck we will be completed in a week or so. It is better to wait and get the job done properly than to rush to completion, but as you can see, we will soon be able to move into the new building.

From the car park with the outside lights on.


Back view


Under the side cover. There will be a couple of washing up sinks to fit at the far end.


Looking down the hall towards the climbing wall. The floor is still being worked on.


Looking back towards the kitchen

The upstairs rooms have floors

The showers are in

Inside the annexe. It now has power, alarm and CCTV. There is a little bit of finishing off to do in here. The walls need painting and the floor will have a vinyl covering.

Building Work Update 1st November

The building is virtually completed now. It will be handed over to us by the builder in the middle of November and we expect to start meeting there on the 18th of November onwards.

Thank you to everyone who has helped to make this possible.

Building Work Update 15th November

It is Handover Day

The building is finished, the builder has left the site and it is now ours. Here are some photographs of the building as it was handed over to us.

The building looks really crisp and clean and it is a credit to the fantastic workmanship of Phil Drake and the PD Drake building team. They have done a really wonderful, quality job and we are so happy with the result. What's more, they have been an absolute pleasure to work with and have dealt with all the problems along the way with a really positive, "can do" attitude.If you are looking for a quality builder, well here is the link you need.

Thank you also to Roger Connolly our Architect and Project Manager, to Matt Woollard our Quantity Surveyor, to Emma Macklin who provided the funds and to everyone who has helped to make this possible.

So, take a look at the pictures on handover day. You will probably never see it so clean or so empty again:

The accessible toilet and shower is complete. It is the floor in the toilets that has been delaying the opening of the building.


New cubicles in the female toilet


A nice clean row of new sinks


The male toilet is completed also


A brand new kitchen. That notice board on the drainer is going outside by the door.


A view of the kitchen through the hatch


The floor in the main hall has had a final coat of paint and the climbing wall has been inspected.


Looking back towards the kitchen


The upstairs meeting room has some new chairs (well - new to us anyway)


New storage cupboards for meeting equipment.


As you can see, the building was funded by the UK Government.


The coat pegs have a rainbow backing to protect the wall.

Opening Ceremony of our new HQ

The opening ceremony took place on 30th of November 2024 when a crowd of young people, parents, friends and supporters of our Group gathered in the new building. It was an all day event with Scouting activities to join in and enjoy as well as speeches, thanks and the unveiling of a new plaque.

This new building was built to the specifications asked for by the young members of our Group and so it was only fitting that they should also be the ones to unveil the plaque and declare the building open.

It was a very special day for our Group and the culmination of two years of hard work. It was also great fun to meet up with so many Group supporters and to be able to give out thanks badges to those who had helped to make this possible.

Here are some pictures:

Supporters start to gather and the kitchen team prepares the food


Some of the team who built our old HQ in 1987


Time for some outdoor activities too


The covered area at the side of the building is great for rifle shooting


Daffy's Craft table is always a popular attraction

Now it was time to get the formal part of the event underway. Andy gave an introductory speech followed by a slide show from Nigel with details of how the building project has progressed over the last two years starting with the grant application form and ending with this special ceremony. The Rev Liz then led the prayers and gave a blessing to the new building. May it be a safe and happy place.

Andy now gave out thanks badges to those who helped make this all possible


North Norfolk MP Steffan Aquarone gets a badge too. It was a government grant that paid for it all.


Now it was time for the young people to unveil the plaque




The cake was cut and we were open for Scouting business. The cake was nice too.


Steffan with some of the young people. Will any of these become MPs? Why not.

For More Information

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