So you need a new church building…
For a church to provide affordable housing, sometimes the current church building has to be replaced or at least remodelled. Maybe the church building is being moved to another part of the plot to free up space for the housing, perhaps the church building will be integrated with the new housing, or alternatively the church building is being partitioned to allow for accommodation within it. Although it’s daunting, this should be seen as an opportunity. A new building allows you to design for your church’s needs today, not what they were in the past. But, it’s important to make sure that it goes well. Lots of churches have been through this before, and their successes and learning can help you. They gave us their top tips:
Get in early. Don’t wait until something needs to be done. Often, this sort of scheme is pursued partly to solve issues with the existing building. However, don’t wait until this problem becomes urgent. Gareth Hepworth, who worked with Tunbridge Wells Quakers on behalf of the charity Habitat for Humanity GB Homes, believes that this was key to the success of the changes they made to their building – their decisions weren’t skewed by time pressures and panic.
Spend more time on the vision and less on detail. This is your opportunity to tailor your building to your needs. A building designed around your mission will make things smoother in the long run. Before you set about doing this, though, you need to be clear on what your mission is – now and in the future. This clarity is important at any point, but it’s particularly key before constructing a building which will cost a lot of money and hopefully last for a long time. It will also make decisions and compromises later on easier – you won’t have ‘mission drift’.
Don’t let other people dictate the design of your church. When you’re designing a new church as part of a residential development, the architects and developers may not have designed a church before. Be clear about your needs, and be honest if what’s being suggested isn’t meeting them.
Make use of expertise offered wherever possible. There are all sorts of advisory bodies who you can consult to ensure that the process goes smoothly – on issues such as heritage architecture, instruments and war memorials. The first port of call should be your denomination’s own regional or national team: they’ll have been through much of what you’re facing before.
Make use of your congregation’s skills and networks as well. While you can always get external help in, the more you can contribute, the more control you have over the direction. Anything from legal or financial skills to project management experience, planning expertise or local contacts can be important to the success of a building scheme.
It’s not going to happen overnight. Realistically, this sort of project will take years to complete. However, that includes a lot of waiting around – for planning permission, to hear back about funding. Churches who’ve done it say it’s worth it, though.
What is ‘equivalent’? If you have been approached by a third party who wants to use your land – rather than you approaching them, you have the upper hand. In these circumstances, it’s common for them to offer a land swap, and they’ll provide you with an ‘equivalent’ building to replace your existing one for free. Defining ‘equivalent’ takes a lot of thought. There may well be some areas on which you have to compromise. For example, St Bride’s, Trafford ended up with a smaller garden. However, the new building must meet modern standards, which means that there will be significant upgrades in other areas. The important thing is not to accept anything that doesn’t allow you to carry out your mission.
Think about the ‘wow factor’. Too often discussions of designing churches can focus on practicalities: your worship space needs to be this size, your kitchen needs to have these facilities. Many architects have designed community centres but not churches. But a church is not just a community centre. It should be an inspiring place to worship, as well as practical for the activities it’s used for. Take some time to think about how you can make it like that.
‘A church that doesn’t look like a church makes it hard to attract new people’ – Anniesland Methodist Church. Find out more in their case study.
What will you do in the meantime? If you are rebuilding your church on the same land, you are likely to be without a building for over a year, including demolition and rebuilding. As well as thinking about where you can meet during this time, you should think about where you’re going to store your church’s property. Could you use the building of another community group or church? If not, can you afford to put it into storage? If your new church will be provided in a slightly different place, it may be possible to have an overlap between the two buildings to ensure a smooth move.
Also, if your building is being demolished and the ownership of the land is to be transferred to someone else, try to ensure that this doesn’t happen until after the new building has been constructed. This way, if anything happens to the partner after they’ve demolished your church, you aren’t left with no building and no land.
Make sure that you’ve got time to commit even if a developer is officially managing the project. It’s important to push back when corners are being cut. The building project is likely to be the biggest area of your church’s work for the duration, but once it’s done it will mean that you don’t have to spend as much time managing the maintenance of your building.
New buildings may take some time to get used to. Even if the new building is perfect, it may be an emotional journey for some people. Churches also told us that it takes some time to understand how the running and maintenance of new buildings works.
A few specifics
- A radiator in the middle of the wall behind the altar can interrupt the look of the place.
- Plan carefully where pillars will go!
- Consider accessibility throughout. Although Anniesland Methodist Church had only a short flight of stairs – and they did have a stair lift – they found that this made their space less inclusive than being on one level.
- Think long and hard before committing to a worship space below ground level, because this can affect both light levels and accessibility.
- Anticipate fittings such as AV equipment before building so that you don’t have to rip up the walls straight away to fit them!
All of the advice and guidance provided in these resources is based on conversations with churches and organisations that are directly involved in responding to housing need in their local area. The advice in this sheet is thanks to
Ambleside Methodist Church
Anniesland Methodist Church
Crossway United Reformed Church, Elephant and Castle
St Bride’s, Trafford
St Silas, Blackburn
Tunbridge Wells Quakers
