Construction of new annexe to 14th C parish church with meeting room, and creation of a flexible space for worship, adaptable to wider community uses.
"It was an imaginative solution to a tricky problem: how to avoid losing light through the church’s south windows"
This project involved the demolition of the existing late 19th century north porch and construction of a new meeting room, with a kitchen and toilet facilities.
Within the church the pews are replaced with stacking chairs. Allowing flexibility for worship, and also the use of the space for other activities.
The annexe is freestanding alongside the mediaeval footprint hardly and touching the historic fabric. Demolition of the porch generated material including stone dressings to the porch door and buttresses. These were incorporated into the new construction along with some rubble facing from the 19th C walls.
St Marys had a deep plan before the construction of effectively an additional aisle. The new annexe responds to this by insertion of a glass and steel light shaft which allows good light levels through the aisle windows into the church.
