Facility Block refurbishment
Comments
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I'm pretty sure that each site will have a to do list but any work will only be sanctioned if the site is a viable concern and there is a long term lease in force. Any site where the lease is due to expire in the short term won't be upgraded as it wouldn't make economic sense to do so until the new lease is agreed.
The club has shown a willingness to upgrade sites as and when needed providing they are going to get the members money worth out of it.
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@KjellNN yes for me personally I agree, but I suppose the club has to keep up with the competition and newer facilities are expected like parent and baby rooms, family rooms and better disabled facilities, even bathrooms. These are usually added when a refurbishment is done. And some do need doing of course if they haven't in a long while.
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As far as I can remember pretty much all sites have a dedicated disabled room with full facilities, though IMO the Club should ask disabled people exactly what they need in that room. Not everybody needs the same things. In our experience there is often a lack of surfaces to place equipment on, and rooms are not ideally configured
Toilets in the main block usually have one with assistance handles, so for the walking disabled, that is covered .
Family rooms are good, but probably not essential.
Main problems we found in the past are the layout of disabled rooms, and on a few sites, the water pressure. LMP at Chirk and Ayr Craigie Gardens in particular , both I believe have been updated recently.
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If they are, then I hope they are not to the same design as Edinburgh.
The block there is nice and new but is effectively 2 blocks in one, with a sliding dividing door in the middle, and 2 entry points. I guess this is done so that half can be shut off for cleaning, leaving half available for use
Toilets are next to privacy cubicles next to showers, and the whole area feels a cramped mess. The provision of an extra door takes up space, and having a shave or cleaning your teeth next to someone parking his breakfast isn't a pleasant experience.
In my view, some of the older facilities are some of the best facilities, and just need a little sprucing up with more hooks and better assistance aids.
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Have things changed since my day? I remember toilets, urinals, showers and washbasins all packed into one hot, steamy, stinky room, without any separation of function.
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@eurortraveller well when was your day? It sounds a long time ago?
I've been a member 26 years now and I don't recognise any of that even back then. I've never experienced a steamy or stinky room. Especially stinky.
Try a club site now.
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The Club have certainly shown a willingness to spend money on sites they own. But there is the rub, they don't own all of the sites it runs some are held on leases. Generally the Club won't invest, if for example, the site is on a short lease as they need the certainty of a decent return on their investment. Not sure what sort of outfit the OP has but many of us preferred to use our own facilities, especially the increase in serviced pitches has made that less of a need for facility blocks although I accept not everyone wants that.
David
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I don’t recognise some of the facility block descriptions on here, from long ago, or very recent. We joined the Club as youngsters out touring in the mid 1980’s, and the very reason we joined was for the loos. We were in a tiny micro camper, without a bathroom of any kind, so we put a Club stopover into our touring about every few days. Back then the facilities really were the best on the touring scene, always clean, plenty of hot water, extras like a hair dryer, loo rolls soap supplied. We always checked the loos out on sites before we stayed back then, and we did actually leave one or two (non Club sites) in disgust.
Roll on forty years, many blocks have been refurbed, if only partially, but on the whole remain a good standard. Don’t blame the staff for the mess during some parts of the year (mainly school holidays) that’s some of the clientele now visiting, who seem to lack a decent upbringing and standards. Some of the drains are getting on, and need extra help at times, some of the fittings aren’t as robust as they used to be. Leased sites such as Exeter Racecourse present a bit of a dilemma in terms of budget allocation.
We have also been in one of the very new blocks, Clumber Park, and these are excellent, well thought out, lovely decor, and completely do away with the “closed for cleaning” at inconvenient times. That half open, half closed is only for about an hour a day, and works very well, keeping things available for those who shy away from using onboard bathrooms if they have one. Not even the Club can afford to refurb all its sites quickly, no doubt it’s a rolling programme. But they seem to be doing a reasonable job of it, although I cannot speak for Southern based sites.
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