Category: Heritage

EDP Live: celebrating community-led design in historic places of worship

10/3/2020

post by Sophia de Sousa and Katerina Alexiou

On 12 February, 2020, The Empowering Design Practices research team gathered with partners and community collaborators, colleagues, funders and friends to celebrate five years of research exploring community leadership in design within the context of historic places of worship. This was a day to share learning and the resources produced by the research team, to celebrate community achievements and to explore the potential, opportunities and challenges that these buildings, and their custodians, face in providing welcoming spaces for their whole community.

The project's celebratory conference and exhibition, Empowering Design Practices LIVE was held at St Paul's in Hammersmith, a wonderful example of a church that has reinvented itself and transformed its building and offer to the community. The event was a wonderful opportunity to bring together the wide range of people and organisations that engaged with the project to reflect on work we have done together and to generate ideas and propositions for the future.

The day kicked off with an overview of the project and our key learning points and recommendations, based on our experience of collaborating with over 50 places of worship around the country, as well as professionals and support bodies that work with them. This was a moment to reflect on the specialness of historic places of worship as buildings, and on the custodians tasked with looking after and unleashing the potential in these buildings. Through a design lens, we explored how community leadership, partnership working and effective community engagement can help ensure the long-term sustainability of these buildings, and help support local networks, community development and the life and vibrancy of these much-valued sacred heritage buildings.

The morning also included a panel discussion of various partners briefly sharing their key reflections and learning points, from the perspective of the organisations and sectors they represent. A key message that came through, articulated brilliantly by Historic England’s Head of Places of Worship and Owners Advice, Diana Evans, was that engagement in design is important, it requires support and capacity building, but it can also be great fun, a space to build confidence and a frame in which important connections, friendships and partnerships can be formed.

The rest of the day included both panel discussions and interactive workshop sessions.

Invited speakers

Our first panel of invited speakers was made up of representatives of community-led design projects at various points on their journey. Revd Canon Caroline Dick and Churchwarden David Wilcox from St Michael and All Angels, Whitton Gilbert spoke about their Breathing Space project, and the importance of a vision being greater than simply the reordering of the church. They stressed the importance of talking to people, and bringing them with you on a journey to which each person and organisation can contribute in their own way.

Revd Simon Lockett from St Peter’s Church, Peterchurch spoke of the need to form partnerships, and the importance of being willing to experiment and if necessary, to change direction of travel in response to changing circumstances. He stressed the importance of high quality and values-driven design, and that this can be achieved with varying budgets.

Revd Geoffrey Eze from All Saints Church, Hanley spoke of the creation of a new enclosed space within their church, and the importance of changes to a building being catalytic, enabling new partnerships and new ways to serve the community as well as the congregation.

And finally, Adam Yusuf, Chair of Israac Somali Community Association in Sheffield, spoke of the group’s collaboration with the EDP research project, and with The University of Sheffield. These helped grow the e group’s awareness and appreciation for their building as an entity with its own history and identity, and realise the role that design can play in creating opportunities for the building to serve their community objectives. He also spoke of the importance of connecting with other groups taking on similar projects to transform their buildings, and how much they could learn from each other.

Our panel of professional speakers was tasked with presenting brief provocations from the perspective of an architect, a support officer and a researcher, which then led us into a plenary discussion with the room.

Some challenging questions and propositions were put to the room: Aidan Potter, Partner at John McAslan Architects quoted Jane Jacobs’ famous words, “Old buildings need new ideas” and challenged the room to be bold in our thinking about what is possible in places of worship. He also reminded us that the design for these buildings has to be a collective endeavour, with the architect simply one element of a complex and collaborative design process. Architect and researcher Nevine Nasser spoke of the relationship between sacred space and sacred experience, and reminded us that faith buildings must integrate into the society that surrounds them. Perhaps the most challenging provocation came from Wendy Coombey, Community Partnership & Development Officer at the Diocese of Hereford, who reminded us that these buildings must be at the service of people, and not the other way around. She asked what would happen if the custodians of these complex listed buildings facing the challenge of innovation and sustainability, simply decided to give the buildings back and opt for alternative spaces to gather and worship.

EDP Live Exhibition

The exhibition offered a snapshot of the project, with key information and statistics about the activities and groups with which we have collaborated. It also included a section which introduced the wide spectrum of practical resources developed throughout the project and artefacts from public engagement activities and live student projects. The resources on offer for people to explore and take away included interactive websites Explore Design: community buildings, A Design Thinking Guide, as well as freely downloadable materials such as our Design Project Stories and our series of Designing Places with People booklets, on engaging communities in the design process. The exhibition also introduced emerging resources on working with architects, key topics for consideration when setting off on a project to transform a place of worship, and an online course on community leadership in design.

We also shared a series of films produced within the project, which include inspiring stories of community engagement in design, a practical resource on using digital media as a design engagement tool, and films capturing our Design Training, a workshop on developing a shared purpose, and related projects Prototyping Utopias and Tate Exchange.

Finally, the exhibition space included a policy corner which invited participants to record thoughts and recommendations about four key questions. Here is a small taster of the ideas that emerged:

How do we connect heritage buildings with the broader context of placemaking?

Build links with wider, existing place making strategies locally and nationally to create a cohesive approach.
Identify within local planning policy that S106 (CIL) can go towards the reuse of heritage buildings for community/ services/ etc.

How do we champion and enable community engagement in design decision-making?

By showing the local community that changing our buildings will lead to more meaningful resources for the community.
By funders encouraging this approach as a precursor to investment, to secure more sustainable projects. A release of funds for project development?
By ensuring that they are engaged in the process from the start and listening to them. Solutions shouldn’t be imposed in a top-down approach.

How do we raise awareness of the value of historic places of worship in the local economy/ society?

Collect feedback from community users and congregations, encourage councils to read it!
By not holding up historic places simply as places of beauty but also as useful spaces that can benefit the local community.

How do we build capacity for community leadership in the design and adaptation of places of worship?

Partnerships with local government and councils for voluntary services.
Training faith leaders. Central web-based resources, including a list of faith leaders willing to advise others.
If owners + funders realised a vital first step was capacity building (if assets are to be protected) they would prioritise this as a first step. You wouldn’t build a house without paying for a land survey first.

Workshops

The event offered opportunities for people to engage practically with some of the project’s methods aiming to facilitate collaborative exploration of issues and ideas and the generation of ideas for future actions.

The first workshop of the day (which ran in parallel to the community presentations) brought people together to explore the challenges, assets and opportunities that arise in the efforts to unlock and enhance the potential of historic religious buildings as places of community value. Participants worked in groups to map and connect their ideas about the barriers they face, but also the assets they have (their skills, resources, support) and to collectively come up with suggestions for future actions or processes. Here are some of their suggestions:

Feeding grassroots knowledge (and longevity and connections) of faith buildings to governance - spreading awareness of Taylor Report
Creatively connecting communities to construct and share knowledge and ownership
Investigate partnerships with local agencies, local councillors, voluntary organisations, local groups and local activities
Build networks
Challenge the church establishment to be more radical about what churches can be

The final activity of the day brought everybody together to co-create ideas for possible future collaborations, actions, projects or networks. This ‘cross-pollination’ workshop focused in particular on exploring ways to enable custodians of places of worship to shape the future of their buildings, and the suggestions generated during the morning workshop were brought to bear on people’s thinking. Participants put on the table their resources, current projects and aspirations and explored synergies, connections and new ideas. A champion from each table then moved around to other tables to pitch their ideas and garner further support. At the end of a long day, it was heartening to see the unwilting enthusiasm with which everyone continued to share their knowledge, experience and goodwill to help build capacity in community-led design and support and strengthen communities around historic places of worship.

We would like to thank everyone who attended the day, and shared their stories, reflections and ideas for the future. It is clear that there was fantastic energy and momentum in the room, and that there is much we can do together looking forward.

Sophia de Sousa is the Chief Executive of The Glass-House Community Led Design. Katerina Alexiou is a Senior Lecturer in Design at the Open University. Photos by Jonny Bowsworth.

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The Village Hall at St John’s Church

2/11/2016

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post by Becky Payne

“We are aware that some people call it the church and some people call it the village hall”

Three of us went to visit St John the Baptist at Stadhampton on Saturday 15th October. I was especially pleased as I had last visited St John’s in 2013 when the builders were still in situ, scaffolding was still up in the nave and the cement was still wet in the arch leading into the new toilets. It was a project I was very interested in as it is one of a few villages setting up an arrangement whereby the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and the village share the responsibility of looking after and managing their church building.

It was great to see it two years on – the buildings work finished and the building being used by both the congregation and the community. Absolutely a win-win for both village and church.

Stadhampton, a small village of 800 had really been lacking a community space since the 1960s when the old hall had burnt done. They had been using the school hall but this was only available outside school use and was becoming less available as the school increased in size. There had been talk of the need for a village hall for several years and a committee set up who looked at various options including new build. At the same time, the church had a very small congregation, was in need of major repairs as well as being cold and damp and having no main drainage. So the PCC was very pleased when they were approached by the Village Hall Committee with the suggestion of using the church.

It cost just under £400k and took about 5 years and the church is now repaired, refurbished and is on main drainage. There are two toilets in an extension to the west end, and a fully equipped kitchen and serving area in the north aisle. The pews have gone and have been replaced by comfortable chairs. There is a retractable screen which can be lowered for the Film Club and then disappears entirely restoring the east end to how it has always looked. The base of the tower has been refurbished with modern storage cupboards and is now a comfortable vestry. The restoration of the beamed ceiling, the cleaning of the stonework, the careful design of the wooden panels around the kitchen and the new floor has created a very beautiful and calming space.

But as we know and as was emphasised by the project chair and champion, it is much more than the bricks and mortar, it is about the people. And we were met by a group of 16 people – the largest group of people that have attended one of these workshops and welcomed into a warm and comfortable building, but one that has retained a very special feeling and one that is still very much a church.

Like all similar projects, it was a challenging 5 years with moments of despair as well as celebration, but the testament of its success was those 16 people, some who had been part of the original building committee, and some – which bodes well for the future - people who have joined since completion because they wanted to come and help manage the new building. They all obviously love the space they have created and are quite rightly proud of what they now have.

Looking back during the mapping exercise, they came up with plenty of top tips especially around funding, but also about the importance of continuing to keep checking that people are ‘on side’. What came through loud and clear was that ‘you need champions’ which on one level is about having a supportive bishop (which in their diocese, they do!) but also that any project of this complexity needs its own champion – the person who keeps it going, not just the co-ordination, but who keeps on pushing on through the setbacks and unforeseen problems and also manages to inspire others to keep on too. It was so clear that this person had been Ann Stead the Chair of the Building Committee who had fulfilled that role and was indeed still fulfilling that role! One of her top tips was that you need to keep hold of a clear vision and narrative which is one that you can articulate to funders, the community, the congregation as well as it being your own inspiration when things appear overwhelming.

Most telling for me was a member of the congregation who said that although she had been fully behind the plans from the beginning she was happy to find that the refurbished building remained very much a church. From a more personal perspective, she said that she had been worried about retiring and feared that she might become isolated. In fact, the new activities which were happening as a result of the new community space, had meant that she had plenty to do and meeting people was not an issue. Similarly, another volunteer said that she had been considering leaving the village as it was so difficult to meet people. Inspired by the project, she had volunteered to be on the management committee and the village had become home again.

Seeing photographs of the pews that had previously filled the nave, we saw during the workshop what a flexible space it has become. For the morning session we sat in a circle of chairs, and at lunchtime, three tables suddenly appeared and were arranged down the length of the nave covered in white table cloths and we ate delicious soup, bread and cake properly sitting down and then for the afternoon, those tables were rearranged to become space for the project timeline exercise.

The key for me was that just before I left, I looked back at the chancel and the screen had disappeared, the kitchen area was all clean and tidied up and all the chairs and tables had been put away except for two rows of chairs facing the altar all set up ready for the Sunday service the next morning. A truly shared space and does it matter that some people call it the church and some call it the hall? No, because it is fulfilling both roles perfectly.

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Visit to the 'Sustaining Major Parish Churches' seminar on 12/10/17 at Christ Church Spitalfields

17/10/2016

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Post by Ruchit Purohit

I recently attended the presentation of the initial findings of an impressive research initiative led by Rebecca Burrows of Purcell UK (in collaboration with Historic England and the Heritage Lottery Fund).

The research was focussed on issues faced by a certain type of churches: Major Parish Churches. A first time when research on a particular type of Church has been conducted. The venue was the beautiful Christ Church, Spitalfields which is a success story in itself with its recent changes (especially the multi-purpose space and cafe in the crypt).

The figures presented from the research were quite revealing. You can see some of them in the image below.

The findings related to finance, sustainability and heritage were quite interesting and resonate with what we have been learning from our own research with the EDP team. I particularly liked the fact there is a major push to open up the churches for wider community use, have shared uses, including business planning for sustainability, and to look at the Church beyond the physical elements. This also connects to the upcoming National Churches Trust conference which is based on Heritage and aptly titled "more than bricks and stones"!

I gathered that the methodology of the research was mainly quantitative. The churches responded to an online survey and then some of the churches selected for more in-depth study were followed by a phone interview. This I found a bit concerning as a lot of qualitative data would have (must have) been lost in process. As Rebecca mentioned in jest “the telephone interviews ended up being counselling sessions”. These interviews might have a lot of unexplored rich data.

Some of the notable concerns raised from the findings and followed in the discussion were 1) How do we know what the wider community wants from these churches and 2) how do we connect with the youth given that the volunteers are mainly retired people?

Somebody from the audience said that if 95% of the public (according to data from the research) have no clue about how churches are funded, we also need to understand that "this population has no idea of what they want" from the churches. This led to a discussion on perception of religious spaces by the wider community and how these spaces are used. Adam Tyson from his experience at the Heritage Lottery Fund commented "there is no one solution, there are a variety of solutions"!

The discussion was very relevant in today's context as connecting with and understanding what the needs of the non-congregation community are is something to look into detail and requires a wider nationwide research. Something which the EDP is researching in relation to the churches it is working with.

From left to right: Rebecca Burrows (Purcell UK), Adam Tyson (HLF), Diana Evans (Historic England).

Diana Evans of the Historic England answered queries from the audience and discussed how this kind of research can be scaled up.

A neighbouring churchwarden (Shoreditch) raised a valid point from his 35 years’ experience on how incumbents (churchwardens and managers) have no idea how to maintain these spaces. To this the Church of England person commented – "you don’t have to take all the burden, we are here to help".

I could instantly relate the churchwarden’s learning and observation to the data which we are gathering in EDP i.e. the need for capacity-building, skills and knowledge transfer, and in general empowering these teams to use and run their places of worship in a sustainable manner.

It is a pleasure to attend such conferences and events and to know that the discourse on places of worship is moving towards a holistic understanding of heritage!

The full report and findings of the research can be found on this link https://historicengland.org.uk/research/current-research/threats/heritage-in-changing-society/major-parish-churches/

They have also made a film on the churches and the research findings:
Short film (2 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDc8HdFnhhE&feature=youtu.be
Full length film (15 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjHZW78ub78&feature=youtu.be

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Helping groups to rediscover their buildings through design training

14/10/2016

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post by Sophia de Sousa, The Glass-House Community Led Design

Sometimes, when a community-based organisation is looking after a building, the challenges of the everyday can be overwhelming. This is particularly true when the building must cater to a variety of different needs and users and when it is in need of refurbishment. When the heritage of the building is significant as well, this adds another layer of complexity. For those looking after historic places of worship, all of these considerations must be managed, while respecting the needs and practices of their faith community.

Last month, as part of the Empowering Design Practices (EDP) research project, we invited three community-based groups to take part in our Design Training course, to help them build skills and confidence in design, and to do some practical work exploring how design could help them make the most of the specific buildings they manage.

The groups who took part look after buildings that are home to both faith-based and community activities and services. These groups, the United Reformed Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, St. Mary’s Church, Bow in east London, and the ISRAAC Somali Community and Cultural Association in Sheffield, are all at a moment where they are looking at the potential of their building, and how it can support their vision for the future.
At the Glass-House, we have seen that exploring the design of a building, both in its present form and in imagining its future, can be a powerful tool for looking past those everyday challenges and unlocking its potential as a place that helps people thrive. The process of rediscovering what the building has to offer can also be hugely empowering for the people involved.

Within the EDP research team, we were keen to explore whether getting back to the basics of how buildings work and the design of their buildings could help groups looking after historic places of worship to think differently about them. To do this, we used our Glass-House Buildings by Design training programme, with the support of our long-time Enabler and EDP consultant, Leo Care, who hosted us at the University of Sheffield Arts Tower.

Learning from and through design
The training took the groups through an intensive hands-on series of steps, which included an introduction to design principles and processes, mapping, visioning and model-making. The training also included site visits to three local buildings that have been transformed, which were hosted by the groups that had led the refurbishment process and who now manage those buildings.

The design training offered an important space for our groups to look at their buildings through a new lens. Meeting other groups and projects faced with similar issues and challenges, and learning about some of the solutions they had found, was both encouraging and inspiring. The groups also looked at completed refurbishments with a critical eye, considering the aspects they found more or less relevant and applicable to their own buildings and communities.

Making models of their own buildings also revealed a great deal. Our groups started to look at their buildings as a living thing. They looked at how the spaces fit together, at the different qualities of the various parts of the buildings. They considered our journey through buildings and how design can shape our experience of a place.

We tested various ideas for how they could use design to help transform their buildings. The groups found that small changes could potentially make a big difference to how a space is used, and how people relate to it. Working with the models helped the groups take a more holistic look at their buildings, and clearer visions for the future began to emerge.

At the end of the two intensive days, the groups felt buoyed by the qualities of their buildings and the potential that they could now see in them. One participant admitted that she had felt anxious and a bit reluctant to build a scale model of her church, but that doing it had helped her understand the building differently, and in a strange way, to fall back in love with it.

We look forward to seeing how these groups further develop their ideas and how design can help empower them to enhance their buildings.

Reposted from the Glass-House blog (13 October 2016)

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A clear vision and great design at St Michael and All Angels

28/8/2016

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post by Sophia de Sousa, The Glass-House Community Led Design

One of the elements of our Empowering Design Practices project is to visit places of worship that have made physical changes to their building, and to speak to those involved about the process and impact of those changes. We want to learn from their experience to help others, and to consider the roles of design and community in their success.

Tucked away in Witton Gilbert, a village outside Durham, is the beautiful parish church of St Michael and All Angels, which has stood there for over 800 years. It sits surrounded by natural beauty, with a churchyard bordering on Witton Dean, parkland that rises from the river below.

Like many rural parish churches, St Michael and All Angels, has undergone a series of changes to the building over time. What stands there today, though clearly a historic place of worship, is not simply a building frozen in a particular moment in time in the past. Many generations have used the building, made changes to it and done their best to make it respond their needs and to reflect their approach to worship.

A clear vision
The success of the recent reordering at St Michael’s is rooted in a clear vision, strong leadership and collaboration from both the faith and lay communities. Their vision, for a quiet Breathing Space, a project to help people find health and well-being, emerged from an open and frank conversation about what and whom the building is for. The starting point was firmly rooted in an understanding of what that particular church and its context have to offer, what makes the place special.

What is so thrilling about St Michael's is that the changes that they have made to their building have been done with such care and attention to detail. They demonstrate design responding cleverly to the values and needs of its congregation while providing new opportunities for their wider community use.

Good design matters
St Michael's wanted to make physical changes to their building which are not uncommon in reordering projects. They wanted to improve accessibility, create a more flexible gathering space, and make the building more comfortable and welcoming with the addition of toilet and kitchen facilities. The launch of the Breathing Space project gave both motivation and opportunity to make those changes happen.

The clever expansion to either side of the existing porch, completed in December 2012, created significant extra space for a toilet, office, and utility storage cupboard. The stone used on the extension was sourced (from an old ice cream parlour in Sheffield) to blend seamlessly into the existing stonework.

The conversion of part of the vestry into a kitchen, with a serving hatch through to the side aisle, and the creation of loft storage space, tackled some challenging design questions about balancing the practical with respect for the faith practices and heritage of the building.

The kitchen hatch provides a practical link through to the side aisle, where pews were removed to create a flexible space for activities. The congregation, which is thriving at St Michael’s, were keen not to lose seating space for their services, so high quality foldable chairs were purchased to provide both seating for services, and flexible arrangement of seating for a range of activities in the aisle.

Top tips
We are grateful to the Revd Canon Caroline Dick and all of those at St Michael and All Angels, who so generously shared their story and what they had learned along the way. The tips they had for those embarking on a similar project were many. Here are just a few.

Think big vision to get the small things done
Think in phases, and use your vision to support small steps.
Reach out and build partnerships.
Get your most vociferous opponents involved, help them understand your position and give them a voice in decision-making
Acknowledge and thank people for their contribution

Reposted from the Glass-House blog (2 August 2016)

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Report from focus group with architects and support officers

8/2/2016

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post by Katerina Alexiou

In the first year of the EDP project we focussed on understanding and collecting examples of good practice in the development of historic places of worship to meet wider community needs. Much of our activity was focussed on visiting past projects and reflecting on the process with those that saw projects through. In November 2015 we also held a focus group with people who provide professional advice and support, particularly officers working for Historic England and project architects. We wanted to get their perspective on the challenges in current practice and examine existing as well new resources and ways in which these challenges can be overcome.

We were fortunate to have 15 participants, with a variety of educational and professional backgrounds and an admirable insight and willingness to share their experiences.

Identifying and dealing with challenges
In the first part of the workshop we started with mapping recurring challenges along a timeline, starting with the stages of exploration and visioning, through to development and delivery of plans for adapting historic places of worship. We asked participants to reflect on practical challenges from different perspectives (architectural, faith, heritage and community), always thinking about the particularities of engaging with and serving community needs. The emphasis in the discussion was on Church buildings due to the participants’ experiences, but most of the challenges and themes identified are relevant to different faith buildings and projects.

One of the key challenges identified, particularly important in the initial phases of design, was the relation between church and wider community, and the lack of engagement with one another. Local communities are often unaware of plans or activities carried out by local places of worship, or are reluctant to engage because of the faith element. Similarly, the worshipping community may find themselves divided between the mission of their faith (and building) and secular needs. In fact this challenge seems to be tightly associated with the existence of multiple attitudes relating to faith, heritage and community. Participants for example mentioned conflicts between heritage and conservation values and the values of a worshipping community, with cases were external communities are interested in preserving the building and historical fixtures and fittings more than the congregation. Similarly there were reported conflicts between ‘old’ and ‘new’ perceptions of spirituality, or ‘old’ and ‘new’ perceptions of heritage. However, lack of engagement may also come because of lack of knowledge of how to engage others in the process. Lack of capacity was another key grand challenge. This includes lack of knowledge of the planning process, terminology (jargon) and skills for project management. To lack of knowledge, it is important to also add lack of time, people resources (beyond the ‘usual suspects’) and lack of funding (especially for visioning and development). Returning to the issue of community engagement, participants also pointed out the lack of community auditing, understanding who the stakeholders are, what their needs are, and what their assets are. A lack of clear statement of need and shared vision is one of the key barriers many projects face and this is something we ourselves are discovering in the new projects we work with. In addition to these challenges, in the later phases of the process, many participants also mentioned the slow pace of the process and the difficulty of maintaining drive and commitment over a long period.

But we did not only stay at describing the challenges. Our participants suggested many useful ideas and strategies for overcoming those challenges. Some of the key suggestions were:

Provide support with the formation of statements of need and significance (e.g. through workshops or sharing of existing resources)
Develop a community engagement training exercise to identify and define stakeholders
Provide training on project management (managing budgets, people) and fundraising
Encourage networking and social events to learn together
Invert power of Dioceses to empower individual PCCs
Bring together client committee members, planning officers, DAC officers, architect to discuss ideas and plans
Develop materials to elucidate the process and jargon
Provide state funding for preventative maintenance
Provide funding to make a start

Identify knowledge, resources and training materials for professionals
The second part of the workshop focussed on the knowledge, resources and materials that would be useful for professionals working in the field. Our aim in the EDP project is not only to support groups to lead the development of their places, but also to support those who support them, and provide open training materials to budding architects, designers, and community and building development professionals. The responses can be sorted into two categories: domain specific/local knowledge and key generic skills. The table below summarises some of the key ideas.

Although there are differences between the architects and the support officers, we can identify some common themes. Domain-specific knowledge (e.g. liturgy, history of faiths and faith buildings, terminology, planning process, conservation etc) was seen as a great barrier, the discussion revealed the existence of a wealth of resources that can be consulted. This includes for example the websites of the Princes Regeneration Trust, the National Churches Trust, SPAB and the Maintenance Co-ops project, ChurchCare and Churches Conservation Trust. The EDP team is in the process of collating existing resources together and making them available on the website. See our Resources page.

When it comes to skills, there was a significant emphasis on collaborative skills (motivating, engaging, working with, managing others) but critical skills were also important (e.g. researching the community and the history of the place). Creative skills were important too although more implicit perhaps in discussions about methods and processes to help engage with the community, and support collective visioning.

We are grateful for all these discussions and we are planning to carry out more focus groups with experts providing advice and support to places of worship.

All these ideas and observations are making their way into the development of our educational programme, which includes the delivery of a two-day training course for professionals next year, as well as the creation of resources to be delivered through an online open educational platform.

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Learning from the Past: St Martin’s Bilborough

18/1/2016

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post by Louise Dredge, The Glass-House Community Led Design

I’m glad we chose clear glass. We love watching the movements of the seasons outside

Places of worship are often designed to elicit particular reactions and feelings in those who worship within them such as encouraging solemnity or celebration, or invoking the wonders of a deity or deities.

As part of our ‘Learning from the Past’ research, some of the EDP project team visited St Martin’s Church in Bilborough, Nottingham (a Church of England parish) to learn about their experience of restoring a historic building. Their church is the only surviving medieval building in Bilborough, built on high ground in the 14th century, in what was then a small rural village and is now a built-up suburb of Nottingham. A Grade II* listed building, the church has been through various phases of restoration over the past few centuries, most significantly the addition of a large modern extension in 1972, which saw one of the chancel walls demolished and the east window bricked up. By the 2000s, the church was in need of urgent repairs so the Church leaders, along with members of the congregation and the local community initiated a restoration project, led by project manager Hilary Wheat, with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, SPAB and other organisations.

The original nave and chancel have been brought back to life through this project, restoring the historic footprint of this place of worship. During the early stages of restoration, a mural by the artist Evelyn Gibbs was uncovered, which was thought to have been destroyed in the 1970s building project. The mural was deemed to be of significant heritage value and the group were successful in attracting funding for the full restoration of the work.

Gibbs’s mural depicts the ‘Annunciation’ scene, where the Angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will give birth to Jesus, the Son of God. Unusually for an Annunciation scene, the moment captured is set in Bilborough and St Martin’s Church is one of the buildings depicted in the background. In recognition of their efforts, the Church was awarded the SPAB John Betjeman Award 2015 for their sensitive repair of the Evelyn Gibbs murals.

As well as thoughtful and sensitive restoration of a treasured historic building, the project also provided employment and training opportunities for local people. Four heritage trainees were involved in the project, working with lead stonemason Phil Turton, learning a range of new specialist skills that have helped them to secure further work in the heritage sector.

As researchers, we were struck by the cooperation and respect shown by the different members of the community who participated in the project. Through their restoration process, the group not only protected and enhanced the building’s heritage, but also connected with and engaged their local community – inviting them to contribute to decision-making on elements of the restoration such as the choice of materials, and keeping them informed throughout.

This engagement is ongoing. The Pew Cushion Club, which is based at the Church, are creating new pew cushions for the restored church based on the design of the 19th century versions. A range of community activities and events are held at the church and there are also a number of interpretive resources for tourists and visitors.

The restoration project has made the Church a focal point for the area, provided new employment opportunities, supported a valuable community resource and protected and enhanced the heritage of an important historic building in the East Midlands.

To find out more about St Martin’s Church visit their fantastic website where you can watch short films about different aspects of their restoration project and learn about the Evelyn Gibbs mural.

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Visit to the Sheffield Buddhist Centre

14/1/2016

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post by Ruchit Purohit

The EDP team visited the Sheffield Buddhist Centre (SBC) in August 2015. Tucked away in beautiful surroundings this historic building is an old Presbytery now converted into a Buddhist centre.

We were greeted by Achara, one of the leading members of the building committee, who showed us into a very welcoming and calm room where the meeting was to take place.

The visit to the Sheffield Buddhist Centre is part of our ‘learning from the past’ strand of research. Like we did with St Luke's the workshop included a walkabout where participants are divided in three groups to reflect on architecture, heritage, faith and community use of the building. This was followed by a round table with all stakeholders aimed to map out the timeline of the process and identify crucial moments. After a relatively slow start, the workshop evolved into a rich and vibrant discussion.

Some of the key learnings from the workshop are:

Process

Leadership and decision-making – for this group one of the key aspects of success was assigning one person (Achara in this case) to take a key role in leading, negotiating and managing the project on behalf of the working committee:

It happened very consciously because one of the decisions that we made, and I am proud of, is we agreed on a design committee and we agreed the rest of the Sanga, the community, would keep out of it and wouldn’t comment

Other key aspects of the process were:

Building trust amongst the committee (putting complete trust on people you could rely on)

Volunteering was seen as a key to the process as each member devoted their time and committed to a common cause. A lot of commitment and generosity from the people that were involved.

I think this building, the building and its size and its gardens, there are huge opportunities for people to get involved with this project at different levels so it is very very engaging, it is gorgeous, I love being here. Everybody loves being here . Personally it is always a pleasure to come here and be in this space, I think anybody, from the person just walking through the door for the first time can find something to contribute to the project because of the size and the nature of the property, which I think is very important at engaging people and creating unity and creating the sense of cohesion among our community because some centres in our movement have less cohesion than we have here.

Participants also talked about using spirituality as a tool for taking the process forward and achieving clarity. Mitra or friendship is a key element in Buddhist philosophy and this helped the team to develop deep bonds and a trusting relationship with each other.

Probably the most basic one is that we have a huge emphasis in what we call ‘building Sanga, which is kind of, forming a network of friendships which forms the way of the Buddhist community and there is a huge emphasis on Sanga participating in our project …

…As conscious practitioners there is a big emphasis with that in the Buddhist community and that will manifest not only as individual friendships but as kind of helping with the work of the centre; helping making the centre look beautiful, helping with whatever work there is at the centre so we not only have gardening volunteers but we… you saw the volunteer work that was done while the building project was under way. We had volunteers doing out book keeping and helping in the office. We had volunteers who helped with cleaning and so on and so on. The whole project is supported by a mixture of members of the community giving money and member of the community giving their time and their help and their expertise to keep the whole centre running

There was also a really poignant discussion about the different fears the team had when they started and how they dealt with it.

There were fears of

dealing with a space bigger than really required

Something that someone said that lodged in my brain at one of those meetings was he said it was like a toddler and you buy him or her new clothes a size too big because you know they are going to grow in to it and it is similar with this space, it might seem vast and huge but actually it is that analogy that lodged with me as a very helpful analogy as hopefully we will grow, we weren’t going to stay as we were with quite small classes and stuff so that was very helpful and practical.

entering in a space that previously belonged to a different faith group and thus incorporated different faith elements
the risks associated with taking a Grade II listed building and converting it – what will be allowed and what won’t be?

I think we also underestimated what we were doing in an architecturally sense; we had just bought a church and we were converting it to a Buddhist centre and I think we just underestimated that this was significant, this was part of Britain’s cultural history changing

Controversy – of risking to upset the non-Buddhist community by changing the heritage. This was a key moment as the Church bell had broken and came down during roof repairs. It was decided that this will be replaced by a Buddha statue. The architect suggested to apply for planning permission and necessary sanction was granted. But still the wider community was not happy.

We were accused of pulling strings behind the public’s back with planners. It hit the BBC news website.

Achara, very wisely decided to go and meet the person who was leading this protest. A simple learning was that talking to the community before taking decisions really helps.

So I went down to see the person who was most upset and said ‘if you don’t want this to happen we won’t do it’ and at that point we came into a very different relationship, and she shared her fears… This might interest you. So first of all she was worried about the smell of curry when we arrived. Secondly they had assumed it was a 15 foot florescent Buddha and there would be parking jams all around Sheffield.

So actually it was a blessing in disguise because if, for me the big learning was it wasn’t just down to me but I feel responsible that there wasn’t enough care taken in informing local residents what we were doing. So we have a couple of minor tensions which we resolved very quickly but we could have done better.

This links to a theme that commonly comes across in most of our workshops that of understanding what is community. The building committee had to be careful of the fact that they had to deal with a different set of users (the Buddhist congregation (mitras)) but also that there was a wider community out there.

We should have entered in a relationship and friendship faster with the local community, when I say local community I mean people who are looking onto the building
Immediate residents?
Yes because there was issues around parking
Yes, parking, suspicion of noise etc

Emotions

Overall, the process proved to be very emotional for the team, throughout the different stages.

I mean this is personal too but there were three big moments for me, one was after that worst meeting I have ever been, I stopped and wondered what I had joined, and two weeks later one of the best meetings that I have ever been in where we said ‘OK, let’s go for this’. Then I just remember being very very emotional on the opening day.

The project in itself is indeed a great achievement. I left in awe that such a building had been transformed at such a scale and for a very different use still retaining a lot of its important elements. A great feat led by a humble community.

I think one of the things that I have become aware of fairly recently is that, and I think it is through this project that has taken so much of our energies and taken so much time, through this we have achieved a huge level of humility and that is born itself out on such things as electing a new chairman for the future and that sort of thing and that unity, I think, is continuing to grow and I think we should be very careful to preserve it.

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Visit to Chester

11/1/2016

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post by Vera Hale

On 20th October 2015 the EDP team went to Chester to hold a workshop with churches that are part of the Diocese of Chester and are in the process of undertaking works in their building. The workshop focussed on exploring current challenges, assets and opportunities the churches face, to help plan future support activities: for these churches in Chester but also other churches who face similar issues when redeveloping their premises.

Two churches took part in the exercise. The first was St Peter’s Church, Chester, a Grade I listed red sandstone Gothic building. Located in the heart of Chester, it does not strike you as being an active place of worship; the cab driver that took us there for our site visit was adamant that this was not a functioning church. But it is an open church. As you come in the building through a flight of steps on the North on Chester Cross, you find there is a nice café, bustling with cups and saucers and chatter - it is a place to take a break from the business of the city. The church’s aspiration is to improve the café facilities and to make the interior work better for the activities that they hold in it. The second church was St Peter in Congleton. Also a Grade I listed church it has just had mayor roof repairs and is now looking to ‘unlock the future for all’ and to re-order parts of the interior to improve provision, access and inclusiveness for the community of Congleton and ensure the building’s resilience.

IEach group got a chance to look at their own challenges, assets and opportunities but also play the role of a critical friend for the other, asking questions and providing feedback and ideas.

The workshop proved to be a great way to use design thinking to talk about the issues at hand such as finance and funding, design and identity, limitations of the buildings relating to their Grade I status, as well as issues around community participation and involvement of the congregation. Lots of food for thought for all parties involved.

We are using the same type of workshop with other places of worship - keep checking our website for updates about these workshops as well as to learn about our findings.

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Love in Action: Learning from St Luke’s Church Oxford

13/10/2015

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post by Katerina Alexiou

A central aim of the Empowering Design Practices project is to develop methods, tools, resources and mechanisms to support people embarking on projects for refurbishing and enhancing local places of worship. But before we can develop new things, we need to look at past practice: How did other people do it? How did their journey look like? What kind of places they created? What are the pitfalls of the process and how they can be overcome?

To inform our own practice, we therefore set up a strand of work called Learning from the Past. The research includes interviews, focus groups, workshops, and a number of visits to past projects. These site visits offer a way to experience the place and engage with the people who relate to it: those who were originally involved in envisioning a new future for their building and who saw it through, but also current users, worshipers, visitors, or people using its services.

In this blog, I would like to recount our first site visit to St. Luke’s Church in Oxford and share some thoughts and observations.

The site visit
We were all excited about visiting St. Luke’s. Becky Payne (our valued expert on sustaining historic places of worship) had already written a case study about the project. St. Luke’s is not a renovation project like the ones we intend to focus on for our support, but the church was rebuilt retaining to a great extend the footprint and character of the original building. A really inspiring example, from which we felt we can learn a lot, particularly about the way the steering team led the re-design process while creatively engaging with the wider community in one of the poorer parts of Oxford.

It helped that it was a glorious day when we visited, but the first impressions approaching the building were really positive. The entry to the building was smooth and the main hall looked big, bright and tidy. The space gave the impression of a well looked after community centre but it combined a sense of spirituality. In this minimalist space, a beautiful unconventional painting of the last supper drew our attention instantly conveying so much about the principles behind the creation of this space.

The main room has cupboards all around the periphery, which are used for storage, and there is a mezzanine level on its short side. Beside the main room there is a kitchen area, and beyond that a connecting space leading to the ‘Chill out’ room - a space mainly used by children and youth groups, with sofas, a second kitchen area, a standalone sink, a pool and a juke box.

The walkabout
Following a quick lunch and introductions to the project and to each other we divided in three groups to walk around the building. Each group was tasked with discussing a different topic: architecture, heritage, and community, particularly focussing on how changes in the building have affected people’s lives and perceptions.

Participants talked about a feeling of cosiness the Chill Out room has, welcoming different types of users and different types of uses, including art, dance (from ballroom to street dance), cooking, mother and toddler group activities and even just listening to music and playing pool. All these activities happen often alongside worshipping, and the Hungarian and occasionally also the Asian Church also rent the space out for their own service.

The building was designed to allow wheelchair access, which necessitated moving the entrance to the side. This was originally met with disapproval by the local authority planners, who expected to have an entrance to such a public building on the front and at a distance from the surrounding private flats. Indeed we found out that there were many negotiations between the architect, the steering committee and the council throughout the whole process, and people in the community also came in with their perceptions and requirements about the place, whether for a small thing like the sink in the Chill Out room or something bigger, like the façade of the building.

These negotiations extended to the perception of heritage different people had as this extract from the discussion shows:

‘Surprising some of the young people find it quite difficult to adjust to the new building as they so loved the old building even thought it was falling apart and everything, they had a very strong sense of ownership over it. I think they thought ‘this brand new building doesn’t feel like our yet’.

We did some art projects; they made a Celtic cross out of clay which is hanging in there, and (…) they have got their own chalk board thing and just things that make them feel it is their building as well.’

‘In some ways we have established a new heritage haven’t we?

Mapping milestones and assets
The second part of our visit focussed on mapping milestones in the process from the start of the project until now, but also the assets associated with key events: the people, skills, tools and resources that made things happen. We used a map with some key events pre-drawn, based on the interview we had already conducted with the church warden.

It was a lively discussion and bit more disordered than we had planned! Thinking about the key events and their succession, helped participants recall and reflect on the process. Doing this as a group helped create a more complete picture. The initial phases of the project drew most of their attention, as they were rightly the most intensive, the most difficult and the most defining. The process had its highs and lows, and there were many setbacks as well as achievements.

There were plans to replace St. Luke’s going back to the 1980’s. But the journey which kicked off the transformation of St. Luke’s into what it is now started in 2005 when the steering group formed. A first proposal was designed with the help of students from Oxford Brookes University. Then around 2007 come another design, which included private flats to help generate revenue to maintain the building, but the plan didn’t get permission due to requirements relating to an elevated flood risks in the area. This also started an on-going consultation with local residents, which revealed their will to maintain the church as a community landmark and resource.

Constant community engagement was one of the key characteristics of the project that made it so successful, and so was working in partnership with other local faith and secular organisations; engaging with local media; and combining multiple sources of funding.

A key point in the discussion was when we asked the team about their values and what made them persevere in the face of numerous difficulties over a long period of time:

‘Well, we haven’t touched on faith. For us, this project was part of the outworking of our faith, not just a kind of blind optimism, it was actually looking for guidance, trying to listen’

‘We also had a fundamental belief in St Luke’s for me. I knew there needed to be a St Luke’s here. It was unlike other churches, it served a need that could not be met in other ways’

‘It was meeting the people around here and realising that St Luke’s can help people get a sense of belonging and feel valued, things that other churches aren’t able to do’

Epilogue
St Luke’s moto is ‘love in action’. This was what drove the process and what drives the group’s everyday activities and use of the space now.

During the workshop a group of three youngsters appeared on the door. They hesitated a bit to get in when they saw us, but they were immediately welcomed in. We could see they felt at home and one was confident enough to share his view about the place. I thought, maybe that is where it all starts, in giving people voice and confidence.

I feel privileged to have met the people and I have learned a lot. Below I include a list of top tips that the team suggested to us, to help others embarking on a similar journey.

Watch this space for more blogs about our visits to past projects.

Top tips from St. Luke's, Oxford

Capturing imagination – visualising the project
Ensuring a mix of skills – getting people in early
Flexible design of project – contingency
Engage the community
Be clear about what you are/your values
Patience and insistence
Design to allow mix of as many groups/users as possible
See if you can phase the project
Lottery funding useful early on (but only early on)
Divide responsibilities and respect each other’s skills

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EDP Live: celebrating community-led design in historic places of worship

The Village Hall at St John’s Church

Visit to the 'Sustaining Major Parish Churches' seminar on 12/10/17 at Christ Church Spitalfields

Helping groups to rediscover their buildings through design training

A clear vision and great design at St Michael and All Angels

Report from focus group with architects and support officers

Learning from the Past: St Martin’s Bilborough

Visit to the Sheffield Buddhist Centre

Visit to Chester

Love in Action: Learning from St Luke’s Church Oxford

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