Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Hitchin

Alterations to the church building

Vision

The current church building was built in 1844 and is Grade II listed.

It has a typical Victorian Baptist church layout, with pews, two aisles, a balcony around three sides, a raised pulpit and a baptistry under the platform in front of the pulpit.

As a church, we have been seeking to determine the way forward in a variety of ways over the last few years. The church building has served well the needs of several generations, and it is now time to adapt the interior of the church for our own and future generations.

We have tried to encapsulate the vision we have for our church buildings - wanting to make them more attractive and welcoming to 'outsiders'; more comfortable for people using them; and of wider use to the community - into a single vision statement for the project:

"Adapt the church buildings to meet the needs of the church in the 21st Century for outreach, for worship and broader use by the community"

A building committee was established to formalise the suggestions into a document that could be used as an architect's brief.

Architect's feasibility study

Current worship area bch (Biscoe Craig Hall) architects were commissioned to carry out a feasibility study to advise on possibilities for the alteration and extension of the buildings to meet these aspirations and needs. The areas under investigation were limited to the front of the existing church including the worship area. Within these areas, the priorities for change have come from consideration of:

Safety and accessibility
Improving the environment (seating, carpets, lighting, technology, etc.)

Heating

The issues which we have considered are as follows:

To provide an enlarged and open vestibule, visible from the outside and with views into the church to function as a meet and greet area and a visible focus from the street;
To comply with all requirements in terms of access and facilities for all including disabled persons;
To refurbish and improve the worship area, including complete refurbishment and redecoration in order to provide a more flexible and comfortable worship space.

Due to delays in getting approval for the proposed changes and the length of design phase, the architect estimates that the overall cost will rise by 10%-15% due to the ever-increasing costs in the construction industry, and will now be around Ł600,000. In order to get the project underway as soon as possible, the Building Committee recommended the work be split into two phases, rather than all being completed at once. Whilst this is disappointing in some ways, the important thing is that we begin the key elements of the transformation of our church building, which will make it warmer, safer, more flexible and more open, as we seek to show that our Christian faith is both timeless and relevant to today's world.

Phase One

The cost of the first phase of the building work is estimated to be approximately Ł350,000 and will comprise four key elements, chosen both because they are inextricably linked and because they have had the greatest support from the church membership:

Putting glass in the outer doors and opening up the vestibule with a glass-based design that will make both the vestibule and the worship area much more accessible and welcoming.
Levelling the floor by raising the aisles to the level of the existing pew platforms, rather than lowering the entire floor. The floor of the vestibule will be sloped up to the level of the church floor - this will be a very slight incline (approx 1 in 33). There will be ramps down to the doors at the pulpit end towards the rear corridor.
Replacing the pews with comfortable, good-quality, wooden chairs.
Replacing the heating system - the best way of doing this has not yet been determined. We are seeking to balancing carbon footprint concerns, capital costs and on-going costs to ensure the most appropriate system.

Phase Two

The cost of the second phase of the building work is estimated to be approximately Ł250,000 and will comprise five key elements:

a) Platform:

The width of the platform in front of the pulpit will be increased, and in order to achieve this the doors in the rear wall need to be moved outwards. This ties in with the decision to provide side doors in the new glazed screen, thereby creating an aisle down the outside of the seating from the vestibule all the way to the rear corridor.

b) Baptistry:

The relationship of the platform to the baptistry is important. At present, the platform has to be reduced in depth in order to expose the baptistry. The intention is to either:

extend the platform permanently in front of the baptistry, with covers in the platform being removable for access. This would allow a permanent front step arrangement up onto the platform and potentially easier access to the baptistry), or

build a new baptistry inn the centre of the worship area.

c) Lighting:

Proposals for the re-lighting of the space have not been prepared in detail. It would be the intention to install suspended fittings within the central area, supported on raising/lowering mechanisms for access, together with uplighters fixed around the walls to illuminate the ceiling, and spotlights in specific locations for illuminating the platform area.

d) Decoration:

Both the vestibule and the worship area would be fully re-decorated.

e) Audio/visual equipment:

The PA/audio installation will require the provision of a PA desk, with suitable cableways to the platform and to speaker positions, etc. The levelling of the floor gives the opportunity to install sufficient cableways for future demand.

Fund raising

The above proposals were agreed by Church Meeting on 19th February 2008, which also agreed that we should bring our pledges to the morning service of Church Anniversary on 9th March. We felt that celebrating the 339th year of Christians worshipping at Tilehouse Street was a fitting time to launch the fund-raising for the building work. We all need to be challenged and excited about changing the church so that we can continue the wonderful legacy and responsibility handed down from previous Christian generations to our generation and, God willing, to many generations to come.

For those people who have already given money (or have pledged to do so), thank you! If you would like to help us raise the necessary money, please contact John Maguire at jcpmaguire@hotmail.com.

The Building Fund-Raising Group has met several times and are drafting a calendar of fund-raising events. Even if you do not feel like supporting any of these events, do feel free to make a donation anyway!

We are really excited that we can now start moving, and we appeciate everyone who is involved through their giving, prayers, running and/or supporting the fund-raising events.