Author: Laura Thomas

Project finance

The shell of the new church and community centre, which is due to be completed in mid-July is expected to cost £2.5m, which combined with an estimated £2.1m to fit out the new building, takes the total cost to £4.6m. 

The project Steering Group has been considering various options of securing non-commercial loans to cover an immediate shortfall of £300k and the cost (approximately £700k) of installing mechanical and electrical fittings. This would avoid the substantial costs associated with the contractors leaving the site between phases and enable us to use the additional space as soon as possible. 

Any such loans would be secured with very favourable repayment terms and/or rates of interest, and represent a low risk. The DCC (church council) econsidered this issue at their meeting on 10th March and agreed unanimously (subject to auditors’ review and legal advice) that loans costing up to £1.6m (including cost of interest and repayments) be sought. This represents the maximum amount that can realistically and feasibly be repaid over 10-15 years. As well as covering the M&Es, it will contribute to the cost of fit out, but will not enable full completion of the building. 

Further funding

The DCC also approved a recommendation from the Heart of the Community Steering Group to seek grant funding from four extra sources, “Grants for Places of Worship”, “Our Heritage”, “Awards for All” and “Reaching Communities”, through the National Lottery. The DCC has had to recognise that this is the means by which the Government now funds many cultural, community and heritage projects and that funding from non-congregational sources has been less than anticipated. 

The House of Bishops Policy states: “Sometimes the Church resists proposed changes in our society, but when the decision is made we have to live with it. In this instance we recognise that the Government has made it clear that the Lottery is the way it will increasingly fund heritage and charitable and other matters. The decision whether or not to apply for such help is a matter for the responsible body in each case.” 

During discussions at DCC it was acknowledged that: “ i) all money is God’s money; ii) God can redeem all things, including money some of us might see as tainted; iii) we would rather National Lottery money be used for projects which have the explicit aim of advancing the Kingdom. We believe that the good that can be done with the funding outweighs the potential negative elements.” 

Heart of the Community applications would focus on grants from the Heritage Fund to repair and refurbish the existing church building. The DCC and Heart of the Community steering group were agreed that this is a “fall back” option should there be no miraculous intervention for funding needed. Even if “reaching communities” funding is granted, the funds allocated do not have to be accepted if the funding has come from else- where in the meantime. The recommendation was approved by a majority vote (15 for; 1 against; 1 abstention). 

 

The development of the new church and community centre took an important and well timed step forward this week. Planning permission was granted to dismantle and rebuild the ½ metre thick wall running parallel to North Road. This will give the most visible face of the site a much greater sense of uniformity. Stone from the existing wall will be cleaned, cut and reused using an exact match of the original mortar. Work on this has already started and will take around six weeks to complete. Thank you to everyone who prayed for the best outcome of this planning process.

The new church and community centre is one of the audacious ambitions of our Heart of the Community project – along with the refurbishing of our historic church building, the upgrading of our Old School Rooms facilities and the support of outreach projects and fighting poverty in the UK and around the world.  

The Buy a Brick fundraising campaign for the Heart of the Community project was launched to the public this week, with a colourful photo-call on the site of the new church and community centre.

The Buy a Brick scheme invites everyone in the local area to play a part in building community, by chipping in with the cost of a brick or two for the new facilities in the centre of Stoke Gifford. Bricks are already on sale in the Old School Rooms on week days. They will also be available from lots of local meeting places and businesses, as well as our mobile community building sites at key events over the next few weeks.

The first brick was purchased by Jaci Crocombe, editor of the Little Stoke Gifford Matters magazine, who is covering the progress of the Heart of the Community project in detail. The magazine is also supporting the campaign by donating £150 towards the cost of the Buy a Brick display stands.

Bishop Mike of Bristol and Jack Lopresti MP have also bought bricks already. 

Jack Lopresti said, “I admire the ambition of the Heart of the community project. The new centre will be a great asset to serve the local population. I’m delighted to buy a brick and play my part in building local community.”

You can also buy bricks with just a couple of clicks, by following the simple online instructions on the Buy a Brick pages of this website.