Progress on fixing the problems with the church roof is turning out to be slower than we expected. When the Church Council, and our architect, Andrew Boyce of Ferrey & Mennim, first began to plan and apply for grants, we were optimistic that the work would be completed by the end of 2008. We received an in-principle offer from English Heritage towards this work of £134 thousand (£16 thousand of which was to be spent on ‘stage-one’ preparatory investigations).

Investigations now show that water penetration over the years has caused greater problems than we realised, and English Heritage has now advised us that it would make more sense to make temporary patch repairs to the roof, and to get further professional advice on the best way resolve the problems in the longer term. This will cost more than we anticipated, and English Heritage is funding continuing investigations: 

We are now looking at two options, either wholesale removal and replacement of the roof, or an over-roofing plan. The latter option is not as simple as it sounds because the design of the building means that it may be impossible to work safely at height. Proposals must also take account of the fact the original roof structure (completed in 1939) is formed largely of asbestos/contrete slabs.

Reports and photographs relating to the investigation to date can be viewed here. Please note that copyright is retained by the photographers, authors or publishers of each document and that these papers must not be published or reproduced without permission. Enquiries on this subject should be sent in the first instance to the Vicar.

St Wilfrid's Parochial Church Council is grateful to our funders and partners in this project.

February 2009