How To Proceed With Your Church Re-Ordering Project

A church re-ordering project can be a highly worthwhile enterprise. Not only can it give a tired-looking interior a new lease of life, but the practical benefits of removing fixed, hard pews and replacing them with moveable chairs enable you to use the space flexibly for all sorts of activities throughout the week, not just on a Sunday.

However, reaching that point means getting over a number of hurdles. Firstly, of course, you need to get the plan right, with bodies like the Church of England offering guidance on how you may proceed. It is important to do this as it may be that some changes cannot be easily undone if you go ahead with them.

Secondly, you must raise the funds. Thirdly, you need to employ interior design experts at least and, if the work is to be more extensive, such as including changes to auxiliary buildings, architects.

There may also be issues such as objections to your plans from heritage bodies if it is an older or listed building and if planning applications may be required. All this can happen before the actual work begins.

In order to ensure the whole enterprise is carried out effectively, you will need effective project management to bring everything together.

That means managing the funds, paying contractors, checking that health and safety laws are maintained at all times (including whether the building can remain in use while work is being carried out), and the all-important task of keeping things on schedule. If the latter cannot be managed, mitigation planning will be required.

As can be seen from the above list, this is not something that ministerial staff, wardens and others should take the full burden of, not just because of the various calls on their time, but the depth of expertise needed that they are unlikely to have, unless they have prior experience in project management themselves.