New Pastoral Centre
for Hampshire Downs Parish on St Peter's site
Update - March 2011
Since 2007, Canon Paul has asked a number of parishioners to work up proposals for a new pastoral centre to replace the aging parish centre.
The project started with a consultation exercise with parish centre users and the Parish Finance and Property Committee (F&P).
Priority of Needs
Following discussion with users of the parish centre and visits to other similar Projects, a priority of needs for the project has been developed: (see here for this report)
An architect and parishioner, Sue Masser, was instructed to prepare drawings for exhibition to the parish, and a project group has been overseeing the consultation, costings, permissions and build programme (using Diocesan major project guidelines).
As a result of the first parish-wide consultation on the Option 10 drawings, held in July 2009, significant changes were introduced, particularly to the ‘cloisters’ element. Option 11 was produced and exhibited at all Masses in December 2009. Option 11 is the one that was chosen to go forward for Diocesan, Historic Churches Commission and Planning Authority approvals. These approvals were given during 2010 and the project went out to competitive tender in January 2011.
Costs
An earlier option in 2009 was costed at £1.3m and the competitive tender process held in February 2011 resulted in 6 tenders being returned around this cost which represents good value for money. The cost reflects the size and use of the building (public/office use not domestic), installation of a lift for disabled access, and the complex connection required to the south side of the church.
Main Contractor
Feltham Construction based in Newbury was selected and will start work on site in April 2011. All six tenders were of good quality, but Feltham was chosen for its experience in building with similar materials, its competitive cost, and track record of producing excellent buildings alongside historic churches including the Library and Refectory at Douai Abbey.
Timings and Programme
Feltham will be with us from April 2011 until Easter 2012. We expect the roof to be on and the building weather tight by November 2011 and inside work and landscaping to take place over the next three to four months.
Announcements of the different major phases of the build will be made in the parish newsletter and Feltham will also be in touch with neighbours regularly during the project. All deliveries and site traffic will access the site via St Peter Street and work will normally take place Monday to Friday. Feltham’s site manager is committed to establishing good relationships with everyone using the area and has a very robust approach to suppliers’ deliveries, having good experience of historic city centres including Oxford. We do not expect to see delivery trucks queuing in the road and car parking will be arranged out of the city centre for site workers.
Sustainable and Renewable Energy technology
The parish Justice and Peace group and members of WINACC have helped to challenge us to incorporate as much renewable and sustainable energy design as is possible within a city centre and conservation area site. These include a ground source heat pump system, solar heating, integrated heating and ventilation system and high specification energy efficient materials. The capital cost of this commitment to our justice and peace principles means that the project has a larger proportion of the budget in this area of cost than is traditional in building projects and has increased the project costs by about £40,000. Over a 15 to 20 year period this investment will make sense and also forms part of our parish contribution to sustainable initiatives in Winchester city centre.
Archaeology and Trees
The protected trees on the site were a major constraint, as are the listed buildings, walls and level changes running from northwest to south east. Consultants' reports on those aspects, a whole site review for sustainable energy options, an archaeological review and bore holes for ground investigation were commissioned and form part of our design requirements.
We now know that the buildings on the site are sitting on 7 metres of alluvial clay before chalk is reached and this has affected foundation design as has the archaeology finds of a well-preserved medieval wall running east west across the old car park area at about 1 metre depth. The new building does not touch this wall which has been carefully preserved and covered in situ, but the old 1960s parish centre was built across it and all traces further east in the site have been lost. An archaeology watching brief will be in place during our building work.
The cedar tree was felled with agreement from the city council. We will be planting a replacement London Plane nearer Jewry Street where it will contribute to the street scene and help to mask the new building next door to us. The cedar is being cut into planks and will be seasoned and return to us as benches and a sculpture as well as smaller wood turning products. We are also discussing with St Stephen’s and St Thomas More some ideas for its use in their churches.
Next Steps
We have been able to be ambitious about the kitchen and the audio visual specifications due to generous donations from Richard Steele and Partners, from Hobbs the printers and a national Catholic foundation, but the whole project would not have been possible without the amazingly generous gifts from individual parishioners. There is still a lot of work to do to make sure that the internal fittings and fixtures, the art work, colours and materials, equipment and many other things contribute to making the pastoral centre a very special place for parishioners and visitors. We want it to be a welcoming place, a liturgical space that can also function as a secular hall and an efficient space for parish work, meetings and social occasions. So the expectations are high but we are confident that the design can meet those expectations and it is now the builder’s job to deliver that design. We will be arranging a number of consultation sessions over the next few months to discuss how the pastoral centre will work, how the kitchen will be used, where things get stored, security, before and after Mass arrangements, coffee bar ideas, opportunities for volunteering and much more, so watch out in the newsletter for your chance to contribute to the how we use it questions.
March 2011