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@Clwydian
In theory you can shorten the chain to the best "in line" gear combination and it should run fine. This is the standard get-you-home-when-your-rear mech-snaps fix. There are usually a couple of problems that prevent this being a long term solution though. Firstly, the chain will often try to climb out of the selected gear as the gears in cassettes have a lot of features on them to aid shifting. Secondly, and most importantly, the chain is narrower and not as robust as a single speed and is likely to snap after a fairly short period of use, especially with the potential extra loading coming from constantly trying to move up / down the cassette.
Sounds like you'll have a great bike once the conversions done though.