Historic Churches 2018

34 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 25 TH ANNUAL EDITION Barony Church, West Kilbride, North Ayrshire (project architect: Ingenium Archial Ltd) The former Barony Church, last used for worship in 1978, had fallen into disrepair and was bought by West Kilbride Community Initiative Ltd to provide a focus building for an initiative centred on the town’s craft and design heritage (CraftTown Scotland) in 2000. The category C listed church had lost original stained glass and furnishings and required building fabric repairs. An innovative contemporary design for the centre transformed the derelict building into the award-winning Barony Centre, which opened in 2012. Extension and alteration have provided a range of facilities, studios and a café, and the centre hosts a wide range of exhibitions, classes and cultural activities. The refurbishment was designed to be sympathetic to the building’s history while introducing distinctive, modern components that provide flexibility of use. It incorporates a workshop pod at mezzanine level, which appears to float above the main exhibition space. Although in this case the church is no longer in use as a place of worship, the use of such a dramatic architectural intervention is equally applicable to buildings where secular and ecclesiastical uses are to share the same spaces. Pollokshields United Reformed Church and Hutcheson’s Grammar School, Glasgow (project architect: Davis Duncan Architects) An early example of a 20th-century Gothic church, the building was designed by Andrew Balfour (of Steele and Balfour) in 1902–3, and built of red ashlar, with polished dressings. The building occupies a prominent corner site with the hall to the north and the entrance door to the gabled front on Fotheringay Road. In terrible condition and suffering from water ingress and rot, the church formed a unique partnership with Hutcheson’s Grammar School through which a significant programme of upgrading and extension was undertaken. The alterations provided Hutcheson’s with new music and computing department facilities. They also included a new multipurpose performance and rehearsal space and a state of the art lecture theatre. More importantly, the partnership has allowed continuing use of the building by the local congregation. Such arrangements are particularly suited to small congregations which would otherwise be unable to continue worshipping in their own church building. St Teresa’s RC Church, Glasgow (project architect: Page\Park) The impressive red brick St Teresa of Lisieux Church in Possilpark was designed by Glasgow architect Alexander McAnally and constructed in 1956–60. The congregation did not have the funds to build a replacement hall and instead sympathetically incorporated ancillary facilities into the nave. St Teresa’s is an excellent example of what is achievable with limited funds. Built in a romanesque T-plan arrangement with a square-plan tower to the north west, the building is constructed with a steel frame and concrete casing and finished with a red brick exterior and cream dressings to the rounded-arched window openings. A modern construction in modern materials, it retains the traditional finishes, appearance and arrangement of ecclesiastical design. Internally the main worship space, complete with original oak pews and a tiled floor, was adapted by Page\Park in 1995 to form a new multi-purpose space for use by the congregation. With a limited budget and a desire to preserve the architectural integrity of the original building, Page\Park’s solution (illustrated on page 32) was both simple and creative. Using timber reclaimed from the removed pews they created a single-storey barrel-shaped building within a building to accommodate the more general congregation activities. The project demonstrates that it is possible to modernise while conserving and safeguarding the historic nature of these buildings. Further Information Church Buildings Renewal Trust www.cbrt.org Empowering Design Practices bc-url.com/edp National Churches Trust guidance bc-url.com/nct-guidance COLIN McNEISH FRIAS has been involved with church buildings for the last 30 years and is a RIAS Conservation Accredited Architect who is now part time with the young practice of Wham Architecture (www.whamarchitecture.com ) which is supported by a network of his former students at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. He has also recently been appointed chair of the Church Buildings Renewal Trust. Barony Church, West Kilbride (Photo: David Barbour) Pollokshields United Reformed (Photo: Andrew Lee)