 As the figurative and often literal centres of communities, churches often have huge histories that run in parallel with the towns and villages they are a part of. This typically means that renovation is the best and often only option to help fix serious damage.
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 Historically, churches have stood as the central pillar of the community, with the building not just housing Sunday mass but also acting as a community centre, function room, soup kitchen and even a polling station or location where political meetings were held.
In areas where a church building is no longer appropriate for the local congregation, a significant consideration for any renovation projects is repurposing the building to reposition it as a community hub for the wider community. This process, often officially known as reordering, can not only be highly beneficial for a community but also essential to ensure that a church and its congregation can continue. Here are some top tips to ensure it is a success. Ask The Community What They NeedHistorically, the church has been whatever the community has needed it to be, whether it is a safe sanctuary, a function room, a place for revelry or even a community store. Let them know what is going on, get in touch with local stakeholders, look for potential pain points and objections and be transparent throughout the process. Surveys, canvassing, and even holding a community meeting can all be essential to create buy-in. Have A Budget And A Continued Funding PlanIt is important not only to have a budget but also to explore how the church building’s maintenance and upkeep can be funded both during the renovation works and for years into the future. Every community will have a different solution to this problem, but it could include a community cafe or store, renting out function rooms, external funding or backing from charities. Often, it will involve a combination of different business models. It may be worth setting up a feasibility study to ensure that your plans are robust and resilient. Think About SustainabilityRenovations are a fantastic opportunity to look into sustainable additions that will ensure your church building will survive and thrive for decades to come. Solar panels, heat pumps and community garden and allotment projects can help to decarbonise your church whilst also ensuring it thrives.  Working on church buildings requires extremely careful management because they are often historic buildings with a heritage and meaning to local communities that is priceless.
This is a dilemma seen, for example, by the Church of St John the Baptist in Llanwarne, South Herefordshire, which is a Grade II listed building which has been at risk of serious deterioration for centuries. Ever since its functionality was replaced by Christ Church in 1864, the increasingly decrepit ruins face flooding that increasingly risks its priceless medieval architectural features. It is one story of many throughout the country where communities are left with the choice of either abandoning heritage architecture or modernising it in a way that potentially puts its historic character at risk. However, there are ways to restore and renovate churches to meet accessibility and regulatory requirements without losing their character. It starts by thoroughly examining the key defining features that need to be preserved at as early a stage as possible, ensuring that you have a clear list of features that need to be authentically preserved as much as is feasible. The next step is to focus on modern needs first before modern wants. Certain modernisation and renovation features are far more necessary than others, and by prioritising them first, you can seamlessly integrate them into the restored design. This typically involves structural reinforcements and the incorporation of fire safety and emergency features in a way that harmonises with the historic character of the building. Finally, accessibility is critical for churches, but there are ways to incorporate vital features without affecting the character of the building. Beyond this, the restorations should be sympathetic and undertaken by experts in historic construction techniques. This is particularly important for historic masonry and restoring damaged stained glass pieces, both of which could be badly affected by restorations that do not adequately take both the historic and practical needs of the church into account.  Many churches will have some ambitious renovation, repair, or reordering projects, but they are unlikely to be as spectacular as the removal exercise in Sweden that has made headlines around the world.
The 113-year-old timber church at Kiruna, 90 miles north of the Arctic Circle, has been moved across the city to a new location, as the building is at risk from subsidence as a consequence of iron ore mining in the area. Other buildings have also been moved or demolished and replaced since the dangers were identified a decade ago. This has led to the entire church building being mounted on a huge wheeled platform and transported to a safer location. The journey took two days and work will now need to be completed to lower the church into its new foundations. It is fair to say that any church building renovation you are planning probably won’t make the international news. However, the story does raise some interesting considerations here in Britain. Firstly, there is the question of subsidence arising from local mine workings. At Kiruna, the mining company responsible for the issue paid for the move. Similarly, the UK government advice is that churches (among other buildings) may be able to make claims to the Coal Authority or the mining company, who would be under an obligation to pay for repairs. This could mean the payment is enough to fully cover all repair work, although if your project includes other improvements, those require separate funding. Secondly, having once been voted the most beautiful pre-1950s building in Sweden, the Kiruna church has an aesthetic nobody wanted to damage. This echoes the issue of whether your church is a listed building or has some other heritage constraint on it, such as being part of a conservation area. This may well place major restrictions on what you can alter, so it is vital to check that any plans you have do not breach the listing or, if they would, you must seek and receive listed building consent. None of that means you can’t be ambitious in your plans, but there are some limits to what can be permitted.  A church is often at the centre of a community, and so any www.dilyswilsonlayton.co.uk/church-reordering.htmlprojects surrounding typically historic church buildings have to ensure that the needs of the community are met, whilst preserving priceless heritage in the process of scaling or reordering the building.
 One wonderful aspect about churches is that they come in all shapes and sizes, designed to fit the wants and needs of the congregation that seeks salvation from them.
This means that a golden rule of designing and managing the construction and renovation of a church building is that the voices of everyone who is going to use it matter most. Besides the preservation of historic churches with the help of the Church Buildings Council, consulting on new churches, reordering and closing buildings is absolutely vital and most work should not (and in some cases cannot) be undertaken without it. This focus on the people who make a church a house of worship is found in the earliest known church building in Dura-Europus in what is now Syria. Founded in 233 AD, the Dura-Europos church was originally a private house in a town then occupied by the Roman Empire during a time before Christianity became the official state religion. The building was slightly larger than a typical house in Dura-Europus and happened to be close to the city wall. A dividing wall was smashed in order to convert two smaller rooms into an assembly room, which itself was a symbol of change in Christian worship at the time. Rather than being simply a house where Christianity was practised, it was a church house, designed to be a dedicated place of worship but without the ornamentation that could arouse suspicion before the It was accepted or at least tolerated by the Roman Army that had based themselves there, and likely would have expanded in size, scope and ornamentation had the whole town not been abandoned in 256 AD following a siege by the Sasanian Empire. Despite damage to the town over the centuries, it was excavated in 1933, with several of the retrieved frescoes shedding light on some of the earliest depictions of Biblical scenes ever.  Because churches are at the centres of ever-changing communities, towns and villages, a building project can involve expansion, modification, restoration, and sometimes repurposing.
In some cases, where parishes are reorganised or joined together, there is an additional building that has become surplus to the requirements of the diocese and therefore would need to be closed as a church. There is a code of practice that a diocese needs to follow with regard to the decision to close a building, and it is typically only fully closed as a church (as opposed to being reordered to meet the needs of the congregation) if there is no alternative. In most cases, the building will continue to stand and ideally will be used for other community purposes. The process can vary by denomination, but for Church of England buildings, the process begins with an application to the Church Commissioners, who will analyse the process and undertake a public consultation of any proposal to close the church and the next steps for the building itself. This consultation, which involves both local and national stakeholders, takes at least six months but can take longer, during which time services are expected to continue as normal, unless there is permission from the Bishop to suspend services for safety reasons owing to the condition of the building. If there are objections, then the Mission, Pastoral and Church Property Committee (MPCPC) will seek further comments, the views of the Bishop and decide whether the scheme should go ahead or not. Once it is agreed, the final date will be marked with a service to commemorate the building, the parish and the memories associated with the building. Following this, the building will typically be converted to an agreed suitable alternative use, subject to the conditions agreed by the MPCPC regarding acceptable modifications and the appropriate storage and removal of assets contained within the church. In other cases, it will be preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust or will be demolished.  A church is a pillar of a local community, often established at the same time the town or village is, which means that the majority of church building projects focus on making the most of existing churches and historic buildings.
 Any revamp of a historic parish church will require skilled church building project management, partly because it may have many aspects, but also because the age of the building may pose challenges that require experienced and skilled handling to find the necessary solutions.
The revamp of St Mary’s Parish Church in Totnes may be a case in point. The £1.69 million ‘uplift’ project will include re-laying the floors, fitting new heaters, installing a new servery, an accessible toilet, plus work to make the inside space more flexible to serve various community needs, the Dartmouth Chronicle reports. Challenges have included problems arising from uncertainties over funding for the whole undertaking. Explaining these, a project spokesperson said: "There has been a delay in appointing contractors as we confirm costs and timings for the work and reopening,” adding that there has also been a problem with meeting the cost since the fundraising target was reached, due to the government reducing the amount of VAT listed churches can have reimbursed. This change, which takes effect from April 1st, will mean an extra £200,000 will need to be found to meet the project cost, although a £25,000 grant from the Beatrice Lang Trust will help. Such problems show why a revamp project needs good management, as there are so many circumstances that can change and unexpected problems that can arise. Cost issues arising from a change in VAT rules are not the only potential financial challenge such projects can face, as cost overruns may also occur in the event of problems such as unexpected damage being discovered that will need extra expenditure to fix. Thankfully, many churches are highly resourceful and innovative in finding ways to raise funds. The Church of the Resurrection in the parish of Farlington in Portsmouth has been hosting the Portsmouth Philharmonic Orchestra as a practice venue since 2011, but is now turning to the orchestra to raise funds for roof repairs, Portsmouth News reports. A classical concert will be held to raise money for this purpose on March 30th, featuring the works of composers such as Schubert and Dvorak.  Even with regard to heritage and historic buildings, churches are unique community pillars that are often timeless in an ever-changing world.
This is one of their greatest strengths and why so many historic churches are beloved to this day, but it can also make construction and restoration projects more complex if you do not work with architects and project managers who specialise in church buildings. There have been many examples of reorganisation and repurposing in recent years, some of which have had more positive results on the community than others. With that in mind, here are some common mistakes made when restoring churches. Failing To Prioritise Character The reason why church buildings are so prized and desirable even if they no longer hold a congregation is because of their historic character and beauty. This is something that should be left as untouched as possible. In the case of listed buildings, which many churches are, sometimes this is a legal requirement but even when it is not, construction work should be planned to be as minimally intrusive to its original features as possible. Internally, it is important when adding new amenities to ensure that they do not affect the structural integrity of the original building. Underestimating Specialist Costs Working with complex and historic buildings necessitates working with specialists who are trained to use historic materials and build in a way that is sympathetic to the original structure. As well as this, working with historic buildings can unearth hidden complications that might cause the costs to increase, which needs to be factored into any budget. Taking Too Long If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well, but with certain older buildings that are underutilised, there is a ticking clock on how long you can wait to restore the building before it starts to fall into disrepair, increasing the costs exponentially and potentially rendering the building unsalvageable. |
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