What were the events that led to the construction of the new building?
Read below to find out.
PURCHASE OF ADJACENT SITE
In 2013, a piece of the adjacent site (1/4th of 1200 sq.ft) came up for sale. This was a golden opportunity and we didn’t let it pass. We collected money on war-footing and purchased the land. This piece of land paved the way for subsequent purchases of the remaining part.
In 2014, two more 1/4th pieces came up for sale. We purchased both.
In 2015, the last piece came up for sale. With this purchase, Jamiat became the owner of the complete piece of land.
It was Allah’s grace that without putting the burden on the community in one go, we were able to make the purchase spread over three years.
INITIAL PLAN OF CONSTRUCTION
The newly purchased land had old houses with sheet roofing and we planned to construct a new building here. The initial plan was to construct a building and link it with the existing Jamat Khana. However, engineers and architects vetoed this proposal.
PROBLEMS
This plan was found to unworkable due to the following issues:
- The existing Jamat Khana was built on a stone foundation and hence could not go beyond G+1 floors.
- Connecting the old building with the new building would be a challenge. All the walls are load bearing walls and only limited cut-outs could be made in the walls to connect to the new building.
- The existing building itself was built in multiple stages and although functional, it had its challenges of ingress and egress during mass prayers.
- The building is situated in a low lying area and has been prone to flooding. Every year during monsoons, the ground floor was getting flooded with rain water.
- Linking the existing building with the new one would be an expensive proposition, with the benefits not matching the projected spend.
With the above in mind, architects and engineers recommended that it is preferable to demolish the existing Jamat Khana and build a new structure.
DECISION
In April 2017, a General Body Meeting was called to discuss this recommendation. All the members unanimously agreed to go ahead with the construction.
This decision was announced in the Taraveeh prayers and Dugana prayers of Ramzan of 2017 and the views of the community was sought. Alhamdulillah, everyone was in favour of the new construction.
After this the plan was put into motion to demolish the existing building and build a new one which not only gives a well laid out Jamat Khana to the community but also gives the scope for vertical expansion as and when funds permit.