Community hall organisers are calling on the assistance of residents in their latest fundraising bid.

The team behind Exeter Street Hall in Brighton have entered a national campaign in a bid for £5,000 in funding to create a second, smaller room for public use.

The hall was previously under threat in 2012 but was saved thanks to 832 residents buying £162,000 in community shares enabling them to buy the property from the local church parish.

Organisers then launched a further fundraising bid last summer to raise £5,500 in 30 days to solve drainage problems.

Now the group want to renovate their smaller secondary hall because they say their large main hall, which seats more than 100 people, can be a little “daunting” to some of the smaller groups using the facility.

They are hoping to use the money from the Aviva Community Fund to renovate their “unusable” community room for public use.

Volunteers have already gutted the community room, which had a major dry rot infestation and chronic damp, by removing and destroying wall plaster, ceilings, wood joists, floor boards, door surrounds and wood panelling, to enable professional treatment of the infestation.

The money is needed to insulate, board, and plaster the ceiling, plaster the walls and replace the panelling, rebuild the door-frame and replace the wooden flooring, for electrical work and installing heating, and to paint and decorate the room at a total cost of £4,850.

If successful with their application, it is hoped that the work could be completed in August.

Organisers estimate with a revamped community room, they could dramatically increase the footfall to the hall with an estimated extra 2,500 uses in a year.

To vote visit community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/1977 before the end of the month.

For more information visit exeterstreethall.org, twitter.com/ExeterStHall or visit facebook.com/ExeterStreetHall.