Developing your vision

For your project to be successful, you want to ensure that it is answering a real need within your community. This is about doing the research to identify that need and gathering the evidence grant funders will be looking for when assessing your application.

Talk to everyone, local people, other community organisations and listen to all their ideas. The more people you can involve at the planning stage the better. It will help you to build a rich and impactful project, while also helping you to counteract any potential negative reactions and thus impact of the project. People are also more likely to support a project if they have been part of the development phase.

You may discover a wealth of practical support, skills and experience within your community which will gladly be shared with you as your project progresses. Members of your community can bring new perspectives or ideas which add to your project, and ensure that it reflects and meets local needs and will be well supported once completed. Potential partners may emerge to help you deliver the project.

Friends Groups

You may want to think about inviting local people onto your project management group and encouraging volunteers to organise project activity and fundraising events. This may be a good time to set up a Friends Group, (if you don’t have one already) for people interested in supporting your building and activities.

In rural areas, your church should also always be involved in the discussions around developing a wider parish or community plan. The process not only identifies the services that are lacking, but it may also help you to identify where your church can play a role in filling those gaps. 

There are various ways to gather people’s views and comments and the method you choose will depend upon the size of your community. Think about how you want to present yourself and how you want to tell people about what you are asking of them. Where possible the face to face personal touch is always best even if you start by sending round a questionnaire.

We have specific advice about setting up a Friends group here.

Communication with stakeholders

Maintaining communications throughout the project is very important. Relationships with contractors, volunteers, the local community and your congregation can have a major impact on the success of your project and keeping open communications with all stakeholders can help you to deal with potential issues as they arise.

Use as many different ways as possible to keep people informed (ensuring you comply with current data protection legislation) eg: regular public meetings, newsletters, your website, social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and of course your own notice board and public notice boards.

Crossing the Threshold: Chapter 2: Undertaking a Community Audit and Consulting with your Community describes the many different ways you can consult with your local community to ensure that your project delivers something that will be valued and useful.

Empowering design practices (EDP) have developed resources and practical tools which churches can use to engage with their wider communities and also use to talk through and test different options around making changes to their buildings. They have written up seven design stories from historic faith buildings which capture their development from the emerging need and vision and how they engaged with others in the process, through to the key design changes.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund provides advice on thinking about community inclusion.

It is vital for the success of a project to have a formal structure that ensures decisions get taken and recorded properly and that finances are fully accounted for. This is important for the development and implementation of the project itself. Usually, the development and implementation of a project is managed within the existing local church structures. For small projects, it may be sufficient for the PCC/Trustees to run the project.

For larger projects, it will be necessary to set up a group (which could be called a committee/project board/management group/ working or development group) with the necessary range of skills and knowledge to undertake the project using the appropriate professional help when necessary.

Ideally, you will need people with project management, business and financial skills, and also a good Chairperson and Secretary to run the group and undertake all the necessary administration. Early on the group needs to agree a decision-making process, and also have one main point of contact.

It is your management group’s responsibility to ensure that good practice is maintained throughout the project. This includes financial management of income and expenditure, health and safety on site and also ensuring that any particular considerations required when working with a historic building are adhered to. This includes seeking and obtaining the relevant permissions.

Two key roles

The group will want to agree a project director, someone who will manage the project on a day-to-day basis and keep an eye on the budget. You can appoint your architect or surveyor to fulfil this responsibility.

Another vital role is a finance manager. This will include managing income which may come from a number of different funders and fundraising activities and setting this against payments to contractors and other project expenditure. You will probably, especially for a larger project, need someone who has previous experience in this. They could come from within your congregation or from the local community.

They will need to be fully conversant with the project plan, and understand both the funding breakdown, and individual grant funders' reporting requirements. Even if they are not reporting directly back to funders, they will be preparing the financial information you use in these reports. A key task for this role will be to provide regular financial reports to your Group/PCC/Trustees so you are made aware sufficiently early enough if more money needs to be found.

Financial management

You need to ensure that there are the right checks and measures in place to ensure good financial management from the offset. KnowHow provides templates and guidance for creating a financial procedures manual that will provide a framework for managing your organisation's finances.

Crossing the Threshold: Chapter 3: Developing a Team and Assessing your Skills and Abilities will help you set up your team, making sure you have all the skills you need. It also highlights some of the areas where your policies will need to be agreed and recorded.

It is vital for the success of a project to have a formal structure that ensures decisions get taken and recorded properly and that finances are fully accounted for. This is important for the development and implementation of the project itself. Usually, the development and implementation of a project is managed within the existing local church structures. For small projects, it may be sufficient for the PCC/Trustees to run the project.

For larger projects, it will be necessary to set up a group (which could be called a committee/project board/management group/ working or development group) with the necessary range of skills and knowledge to undertake the project using the appropriate professional help when necessary.

Ideally, you will need people with project management, business and financial skills, and also a good Chairperson and Secretary to run the group and undertake all the necessary administration. Early on the group needs to agree a decision-making process, and also have one main point of contact.

It is your management group’s responsibility to ensure that good practice is maintained throughout the project. This includes financial management of income and expenditure, health and safety on site and also ensuring that any particular considerations required when working with a historic building are adhered to. This includes seeking and obtaining the relevant permissions.

Two key roles

The group will want to agree a project director, someone who will manage the project on a day-to-day basis and keep an eye on the budget. You can appoint your architect or surveyor to fulfil this responsibility.

Another vital role is a finance manager. This will include managing income which may come from a number of different funders and fundraising activities and setting this against payments to contractors and other project expenditure. You will probably, especially for a larger project, need someone who has previous experience in this. They could come from within your congregation or from the local community.

They will need to be fully conversant with the project plan, and understand both the funding breakdown, and individual grant funders' reporting requirements. Even if they are not reporting directly back to funders, they will be preparing the financial information you use in these reports. A key task for this role will be to provide regular financial reports to your Group/PCC/Trustees so you are made aware sufficiently early enough if more money needs to be found.

Financial management

You need to ensure that there are the right checks and measures in place to ensure good financial management from the offset. KnowHow provides templates and guidance for creating a financial procedures manual that will provide a framework for managing your organisation's finances.

Crossing the Threshold: Chapter 3: Developing a Team and Assessing your Skills and Abilities will help you set up your team, making sure you have all the skills you need. It also highlights some of the areas where your policies will need to be agreed and recorded.

Having consulted with your congregation and the community, you’ve probably found that people suggested a range of solutions and projects. There may be one that stands out above all the others, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is the best option.

Now is a good time to assess all the options and work out which solution your team feels best solves the problem and is the most feasible. You also need to look at the impact each option will have on the building, its current and future uses including liturgical use, and balance that against the benefits of each option. Working through all the options will help you when you come to make the case for the changes you want to make.

This is before you start commissioning drawings, developing definitive proposals or engaging a professional adviser.

Statements of Significance and Need

This is when you start working towards completing your Statements of Significance and Need and our web page provides key information on how to do this.

It is a good idea at this stage to seek pre-application advice from your denominational buildings advisory body e.g. for the Church of England, your Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC). They are experts and importantly their advice is free and could well save you time and energy. They can alert you to likely concerns and give you advice on what is likely to be approved and what is not and will be able to suggest other possible solutions which may help to minimize impact. They may also be able to let you know of any similar projects nearby that you could learn from.

Starting a dialogue at an early stage should also help you to continue effective dialogue through the later stages of an application. They can also ensure you understand the permissions process and explain the documentation you will be required to submit.

The two most common adaptations involve installing or upgrading toilets and kitchens. Here are some key things to think about in respect of these two vital facilities.

Read our page about church kitchens.

Read our page about church toilets.

For any work carried out on your building, you should employ an appropriate professional.

If your project is funded from the public purse (including National Lottery Heritage Fund), you must also ensure that you tender for and make agreements with contractors according to procurement regulations.

It is important to realise that heritage buildings are very different from modern buildings, and the appropriate repair methods and building materials need to be used.

Not using the appropriate materials or methods can cause more significant problems in the future. Therefore, ensure that you employ someone with the right skills and experience.

1. Finding accredited people

Some denominations give advice on finding and appointing an architect or surveyor. For instance, Church of England DACs keep lists of professionals who have proven experience of working with places of worship.

It is worth bearing in mind that some of the specialist trades work across the UK, so they may not be local to you. There are online registers and associations of accredited professionals, consultants and trades people where you can search for suitable people to contact regarding your project.

The Church in Wales provides very practical advice on employing professionals as does Historic England

The Building Conservation Directory published annually brings together the latest expert advice and up-to-date information on craft skills, conservation products and specialist services, as well as course listings and other essential information.

Our Specialist Skills Directory provides details of a wide range of professional experts, including architects.

2. Architects and surveyors

For major building projects (and some minor projects in listed buildings) you will need to appoint an architect or building surveyor.

All churches that fall within the Ecclesiastical Exemption system will already have an architect (or chartered surveyor) for the quinquennial (five-yearly) review of the church building. This may be an architect that you only see once every five years or you may have built up a long and trusting relationship with them. Our web page on quinquennial and other inspections provides useful information.

However, your inspecting architect may not have the design skills or capacity to take on a major new-build project and you do not need to use them for your project. In fact, some architects prefer only to do quinquennial reviews and offer advice on repairs, rather than refurbishments. If you have an historic church building, then you should, for courtesy’s sake, ask your inspecting architect whether they are interested in tendering. Your church architect may or may not have the relevant skills for your individual project, but it is important that they know what is going on and are at least given the opportunity to take part.

It is recommended that if your building is listed, you select a professional with a recognised Conservation Accreditation. Some funders including ourselves require professionals working on listed buildings to have conservation accreditation. This is worth considering at an early stage.

You can find accredited architects and building surveyors via their professional associations:

Architects Accredited in Building Conservation (AABC)

RIBA's Conservation Accredited Architects

Empowering Design Practices: Preparing to work with architects is a booklet for community groups seeking to appoint an architect and explains the various ways this can be done. It provides some basic information on what to look for in the person and practice you commission, as well as what you can do to prepare as a community-based commissioning client. Using a real-life example and some imagined scenarios, the booklet illustrates how an architect can offer different kinds of support and direction at distinct stages within a project.

3. Procurement and tendering

Rules regarding procurement and tendering can affect churches and architects where public money is funding more than 50% of the total project cost (this includes National Lottery Heritage Fund funding). Other funders may also set their own rules regarding procurement and tendering (such as ourselves).

However, guidance usually emphasises that skill and experience should be taken into consideration, so if your current architect or local tradesperson is demonstrably the best person to do the work they can be awarded the contract, even if their costs are slightly higher.

The Church of England has worked with Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund to produce a short guidance note on the interpretation of EU procurement rules. It is relevant to all places of worship, and can be found on the ChurchCare website.

Crossing the Threshold: Chapter 5: Developing your ideas: options appraisals, feasibility studies, architect’s brief and the design stages also offers guidance on procurement.

Choosing your contractor

Most external funders will require you to compare at least three quotes for any work you are to have done (especially if the cost will be over £5000).

In addition to comparing costs, you should also look at their previous work, request references and check their experience within the sector.

This country’s historic places of worship should retain their role as living buildings at the heart of their communities. We want to help congregations accommodate changes that are needed to achieve this, in ways which sustain and enhance the special qualities of their buildings.

New work in historic places of worship should:

• be based on an understanding of the cultural and heritage significance of the building;
• minimise harm to the special historic, archaeological, architectural and artistic interest of the building, its contents and setting;
• bring with it public benefits, such as securing the long term use of the building, which outweigh any harm to significance;
• achieve high standards of design, craftsmanship and materials.

Making Changes to Places of Worship, Historic England 2019

Most churches will have undergone some form of change, and some will have been reordered several times. In some cases, it might have been a minor adaptation, in others a radical reordering reflecting a change in liturgical practice, the desire of a local benefactor to show his patronage or the wish of a congregation to provide a community space.

Under current legislation, you cannot undertake any works in your place of worship until you have obtained the relevant permissions, which may involve both church and secular planning authorities. If your building is listed and/or you are developing a major project, this can take time and you may have to consult with several interest groups. So seek advice early.

All planning authorities, church or secular will be looking at any proposed adaptations in terms of their impact on the historic fabric, while church bodies will also be concerned about balancing the need for change and the benefits of that change, with any impact on fixtures and fittings and liturgical considerations.

The Ecclesiastical Exemption (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) England Order 2010 gives exemption from listed building and conservation area consent for the five main denominations in England and the Church in Wales. It recognises the particular function of the buildings as places of worship and ensures that sacred uses are protected, the parishioners are duly consulted and that the wider aesthetic interests of the public are considered. The system balances mission and worship and wider community use with care and conservation.

Ensure you check with your relevant building advisers at Diocesan, District, Synod or national level to find out what you will need to do. Bear in mind that many processes such as your options appraisal and feasibility study (if you undertook one) and writing your Statements of Need and Significance are all key to making your case.

There is information about the websites of denominations on the CTBI website.

There is more comprehensive information in getting permissions on our web page.

Crossing the Threshold: Chapter 6: Balancing the need for change with heritage and liturgical considerations, legalities and the church planning process helps you to design your building project while taking into account the heritage of your building and liturgical requirements. It also explains the permission process.