Ahead of the new build development alongside the church, the copper-clad spire was re-covered and the masonry to the tower repaired within a first phase of work. The second phase included liturgical re-ordering and the re-development of a range of existing time-expired church rooms. The new annexe provides much needed ancillary spaces to the main church but can also be separated off for independent use, providing the local community with a valuable facility and enabling the church to offer their building to a wider audience for much more intensive use.
The new single storey building is linked to the existing church by a linear glazed atrium space. This allows light to continue to flood into the interior of the church building, whilst providing a large gathering space. A sinuous curved wall encloses a series of ancillary spaces, including a pair of inter-linked meeting rooms, a kitchen, the parish office as well as toilets and store rooms. Within the existing church building, the font was moved from an existing baptistery space, making way for a new reconciliation space, providing a radically different approach to the rite of confession. Face to face or anonymous confession is now possible, with privacy provided by modern stained-glass panels suspended in front of the new structure. These much-needed improvements have provided modern facilities for the parish and for the work of the Salesian Order, whose prime mission is to work with young people.
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