2012 August - we replaced the ugly ducting

When we took over management of the building from the previous group of Freemasons who had worked hard and managed to hang onto it for future generations - there was a lot of maintenance work to be done to make sure we could in turn hand it onto those who followed us.

Much was critical and obvious maintenance, like getting the roof fixed. Others were of a more ascetic nature. Frankly, after looking at problems for years, you learn to close your eyes to them. It is a dangerous cycle - more things get worse and you learn to in turn ignore them. You go into survival mode and without noticing the decline of the building, that kills the building as it falls into repair. It's and old story common not just to Freemasons, but other old organisations.

The ducting running in the main fall for the ducted heating was one such thing - but our President had a real bee in his bonnet about getting it fixed. It was not a cheap job. Far from it. It was custom made ducting in metal. It was also stupid to spend that money with the ducting at the same low height, so we moved the whole unit up about 1.5 feet.

As I walk under it now, I look up and know we made the right call fixing this.. it's made the hallway look modern. Post works, we also painted the area.

You can see from the below photo how much we raised the unit by more clearly. The cupboard with the scissor broom leaning against it also got demolished - that's one we should have kept Mr President !

Later, in July 2015, we had to replace the ducted heating unit when it failed due to old age.