Old Church Rooms Renovation Progress

Old Church Rooms : before

Week 1 of the project saw the arrival of containers, closure of the car park and complete clearance of the kitchen down to the plaster behind the tiles with the store cupboard reduced to its timber skeleton. Two store cupboards in the hall have gone completely to make way for the new entrance into the Garth Room. The new lintels are waiting to be installed as the contractors prepare to knock through two feet of Victorian stone wall.

Week 2 saw the start of ground works for the new extension as the work on the Garth Room and kitchen continue.

Week 3 saw the concrete foundations go in, despite the rain. The new entrance into the Garth Room is ready for plastering and two scaffolding towers are allowing decorators to paint that high ceiling. The Weir Room has a big hole in one wall which will become the entrance to its own store room. That store will be in what was the women’s loos. The downstairs loos are being replaced and have been stripped out. The kitchen design is almost done and we will have sleek stainless steel units with fridge and dishwasher.

Week 4 saw the blockwork for the extension starting, despite the weather. The Garth Room is being decorated and the new carpet will be laid next week. The curtains have been dry-cleaned. The kitchen has been ordered and should be in by the end of September. The old downstairs WCs have disappeared to be replaced with two new store rooms.

Week 5 saw the start of the demolition of the old Police Room, progress on the foundations for the new extension, scaffolding go up to repair a leak in the Victorian roof over the Garth Room, progress on the new storage space for the Weir Room, completion of decoration in the Garth Room with a new carpet laid and the cleaned curtains re-hung.

By the end of week 8 the old Police Room is gone, the new extension has roof trusses and Bath-stone lintels to match the existing building. The scaffolding for the roof repair is down and preparations are being made to knock-through into the extension. The kitchen has a new floor and all the walls are newly clad. The new boiler for the Garth Room heating is being fitted.

Week 9 saw more work on the new roof timbers and the first connections between the new extension roof and the existing building. Heating is back in the Garth Room from a new boiler.

At the end of October, the new roof on the extension is closer to being water-tight at which point work on the internal parts of the ground and first floor can really get going.  With a few adjustments to make on the kitchen, it will be available soon.

By November 6 the new ceiling lights were in the kitchen and are amazingly bright to match the new lights in the Garth Room. The zip boiler is in too which will give instant boiling water for lots of cups of tea and coffee.  From inside the OCR we can now look into the new room on the extension first floor: it’s big! And going to be a lovely room.  Foundations for the new entrance have started and continue next week.

At the end of week 14 (November 13) the kitchen is having its final checks and we will be putting back the contents next week.  Groundworks for the new entrance are under way and the roof should be water-tight by the end of next week.

Week 15 has the steel frame in for the new entrance and the block work is progressing.  The new store room for the Weir Room is being plastered.  The roofers start on the extension next week and you can now see the shape of the big south-facing dormer window in the new first floor room.

As we move towards December at the end of Week 16, the Weir Room is being redecorated and the external work is focused on the roofing the new extension and the building the new roof for the new entrance.

As we start 2016, the roof work is complete on the new extension and entrance.  The new entrance glass is in place and the new first floor room is being plastered.  The Weir and Chain Rooms are back in use and there is heating in this end of the building.

The Garth Room was back in use from September 7. A loo block for users of the Garth Room is on site and has a covered walk-way from the main doors. The kitchen and the rest of the OCR will be closed to users. We expect the new kitchen to be ready by the end of October.

The OCR team meets regularly with the contractor, W&T Building Group, and managing architect, Oriel Design Ltd, to discuss details on lights, heating, colours, new entry mechanisms, and much much more.

Access to the Weir and Chain rooms is still closed and we will be talking to our regular users about possible alternative accommodation.

The building is now not accessible by the public so please call ahead if you wish to see Helena Fox (20 919441).

Click on the photos below to see what has been happening – more photos will appear.

Old Church Rooms Renovation Project