Latest News - Discussions Begin with Advisers to Bridge the Funding Gap!
Back in 2008, we received planning permission for a substantial annex to be built alongside the current church building. This annex is a significant project that will develop a number of new spaces to provide a facility suitable for 7-day-a-week use and enable us to serve the community much more effectively.
Our architects, D5, and our other professional advisers have been a huge help to us in obtaining planning, preparing and issuing tender packs and advising us throughout the process. You can see more of their illustrative drawings here.
Where we've come from
Monyhull Church started meeting in the Victorian Chapel that originally formed part of the Monyhull Hospital in 1997. Since then, the hospital was sold on to a housing developer and the thriving Monyhull Grange Estate has developed around the church building. The Church has increased in size and now has a morning congregation of over 200 - stretching the capacity of our current building!
We reached agreement with the relevant authorities whereby in exchange for the transfer of the church building to us, we would extend and develop the site and use it to serve the new estate. You can see the size and scale of the new estate by visiting the aerial view and map of the estate and church.
Where we're going
The current, Victorian building is a good size but lacks the necessary amenities. The new annex will provide us with:
· New entrance and welcome area
· A large, second hall
· New, flexible meeting rooms
· New kitchen and toilets
The project also includes external landscaping and extra car parking. In the long term, we hope to refurbish the existing church building too.
Where we're up to
Having received and reviewed tenders from prospective builders, we now know what the total project cost will be - £1.4m. We have already raised just over £900,000, mostly through the phenomenal giving of past and present members and friends of Monyhull Church.
The focus for July and August is to bridge the outstanding balance and ensure that work can begin on site this autumn.
To do this, we are focusing on two main areas. Firstly, we are in discussions with banks and various trusts to raise the outstanding balance from a combination of gifts and loans.
Secondly, we are reviewing the building specification in detail and discussing options with our professional team and the builders about how we could phase construction of certain elements or change the specification of individual items to lower the project cost.
If you are interested in finding out more about the project or would like to contribute to it, please contact Gareth Iley.