St Barnabas’, Pound Hill, built in 1955 consists of a church, hall and community café in daily use. Our exciting building project is about improving our facilities, in particular the accessibility into and through our buildings to enable more people to use them. We have a prime position, at the heart of the community but this advantage is offset by our poor accessibility around the complex. The fashionable multi-level design of previous decades segregates users into those who can move easily between different floor levels and those who cannot.
The cost of the overall project is £265,500 and we are grateful to have received donations and grants to enable us complete Phase 1 and Phase 2 will be underway shortly – see below for details.
Phase 3 is the final phase of this ambitious project; it covers the building of the new principal entrance to the church, providing level outside access and improving the patio area making it more usable for outdoor events.
If you would like to donate towards the final phase of this project please use one of the methods below:
The QR Code below.
Our bank details are: Parish of Worth Poundhill & Maidenbower, Sort Code: 40-18-22 Account Number: 61223372. Please use the reference: “St B project” for your donation,
Use the Givealittle link: https://givealittle.co/campaigns/6cf91868-3cce-4edc-a4b0-abd4677c8318
Many thanks.
Background to the project and progress on Phase 1 and Phase 2
In normal times, over 800 people a week use the spaces for support groups, Weightwatchers, Indian Dance, youth theatre groups, Brownies, children’s musical activities, cake shop, exercise for the elderly, pilates, church groups and to provide hot homemade lunches for the elderly and free lunches for those experiencing homelessness. Increasing accessibility into and throughout our buildings will enable more people to come and enjoy them for community activities or to worship here.
At St Barnabas’, this means lifting/lowering areas of flooring to allow level access through the building, as well as providing wheelchair friendly access to all the Church buildings which will also be more friendly to prams, push chairs and those with reduced mobility. We will create a new primary entrance to the church, having a disability-compliant door with an automatic opening/closing mechanism.
The intention of the proposals is to future-proof the Church as a place of worship and community activity space, accessible and useable by as wide a range of potential users as possible. The proposal seeks to provide parity of esteem for everyone using the Church buildings by allowing a single shared entrance for all, accessibility through the building where level changes currently prevent this. The new external porch is intended to make the Church entrance more visible to users and more inviting to visitors. It is intended that the works proposed to St Barnabas’ will allow the Church to continue to act as a community hub for the local area as well as supporting its growing congregation.
The cost of the overall project is £265,500 and we are grateful to have received donations and grants to enable us complete Phase 1 and Phase 2will be underway shortly.
The work is divided into 3 phases with Phase 1 – the Pastoral Centre has been completed and was carried out by DMC Building Services Ltd of Copthorne. This phase covered:
- External work outside the Pastoral Centre – levelling the entrance and providing a smooth pathway from the pavement around to the patio area in front of the church and
- Internal work in the Pastoral Centre – levelling the floor, installing a new kitchen, new heating and lighting.
The area is already looking much more spacious, open and usable with the completion of the first phase mid- August 2021.
Phase 2, which is due to start at the end of August 2023, covers the lowering of the Narthex floor and widening the doorway into the Church Hall. This will provide level access within the buildings.
Phase 3, covers the building of the new principal entrance to the church, providing level outside access and improving the patio area making it more usable for outdoor events.