St Lukes Church

St Lukes Church

BUILDING A COMMUNITY

The existing site consisted of a Grade II listed church, courtyard and church hall building. The design brief was to provide new community facilities to replace the ageing church hall which had reached the end of its useful life and was becoming uneconomical to repair.

The design solution was to provide a fully functional and modern alteration to the Church that met the client’s requirements and did not prejudice the historic character of the existing building. Specifically, the aspiration was to put the church at the heart of the community so that it would act as a catalyst in bringing the whole community closer together. The new build provides a full range of community facilities for all users, and in particular, the younger generation.

“When it became clear that our church hall had reached the end of its useful life the Church Committee decided to utilise the town centre site to provide both social housing and a state of the art church and community facility. In order to do the latter the remaining part of the former hall site, a rather dreary courtyard and the west end of the Grade II church itself had to be reconfigured. It is no exaggeration to say that Arcus succeeded brilliantly in realising our vision. The new facilities are first rate and the adaption of the church has won universal praise for its practicality and beauty”.

Fr Michael, St Lukes Church