Church grants

Church

St Andrew’s Whitehall Park, N19 3TN

Designation

Not listed, but in a conservation area.

Total project cost

£69,000

Cloudesley grant

£41,000 in two stages (£18,000 for wiring repairs in 2015 and £23,000 for lighting in 2016)

Other funding

Proceeds from a gift day at the church, and other church funds

Dates

Initial planning: Spring 2015.

Work complete: Summer 2018.

Contractors used

Electrical condition report: East West Contracting

Wiring repairs, lighting design and lighting installation: CES Lighting

Architect: Robert George

Background

In early 2015, an Electrical Installation Inspection Condition Report revealed numerous electrical faults at St Andrew’s Whitehall Park.  The church applied to Cloudesley for funding towards the cost of rewiring and other electrical repairs in Spring 2015 and a grant of up to £18,000 was approved, allowing them to take this work forward.

Their quinquennial inspection report then identified further lighting issues, and the Church developed plans to respond to this.  In Spring 2016, they successfully applied to Cloudesley for a further grant to enable them to install new lighting, fittings and wiring.

There was then a pause in the project, whilst the PCC thought hard about exactly what they wanted the lighting to achieve.  St Andrew’s were considering a major reordering of the church building in the future, and needed to be sure that the lighting would work with whatever their future plans were; they didn’t want to spend money on the lighting and then need to redo it.  This process of reflection and planning was valuable but took time.

Once a design from CES was chosen, St Andrew’s tendered the work to two firms.  CES were chosen to install the lighting and the project moved ahead. 

Benefits

Before the lighting project, the church was dark, and the lights were both unreliable and expensive to run.  The vicar ran few evening services, in case the lights blew, and people were hesitant to turn the lights on before services, because of the cost. This made the church dangerous to walk around in and unwelcoming.  Groups would meet in the vicarage or the hall, because the church itself was too dark. 

Rev’d Steve Clarke at St Andrew’s Whitehall Park, says, “The new lighting has transformed St Andrew’s worship space, making it brighter and more welcoming.  The new system gives us the flexibility to host a variety of services and events.  We are saving money, and the LED technology is better for the environment at the same time. Without the grant from Cloudesley we simply couldn’t have done the work.” 

The lighting allows the church to be a big space or an intimate space, at the flick of a switch, and the increased brightness makes it more welcoming. Church users have commented on the great improvement. 

Challenges

The main challenge at St Andrew’s was future-proofing the lighting; having the confidence that the investment would be valuable now and into the future.  Developing this confidence took several PCC meetings, and around a year’s work, so the project took more time than expected.

It was the first time that the vicar had completed a faculty application or managed such a big project, so it was a learning curve.

Top tips for other churches

Know why you’re doing it; have a vision about what you want the lighting to do for you, and why. The PCC needs to be clear about what purposes they want the different spaces within the church to be used for, now and in the future, and what lighting can do to support the work of the church.

Find a contractor who really knows what they are doing. St Andrew’s were very happy with the work of CES, who produced a good design and were genuinely interested in solving problems to deliver a good end-result.

Be ambitious.  This is an investment that will outlive everyone making the decision.

If you can, try out parts of the design with temporary lights and see the results.  It’s worth asking your lighting company whether they can offer this.

A major lighting project is going to cost a lot and take a lot of your time; developing designs, writing funding applications and securing faculty permissions. You need to stay on top of the deadlines or the project can run on.

Keep Cloudesley informed if and when plans change.

The Cloudesley perspective – why did this project gain support?

The project evolved, initially from a series of repairs, to a much larger lighting project. After the first grant was agreed, the church consulted with Cloudesley as their plans developed. The church invited us to meetings with the architect and contractors to discuss the plans before these were agreed. They provided a clear case for amending the purpose of the original grant and support was provided for them in their application for further funding towards the new lighting designs.