Building Work at Holy Trinity Church

7th January 2025

If you have noticed hoardings going up at one corner of Holy Trinity church, they will be joined by more hoardings around the grounds in the coming days. Work has started on the most significant addition to the building since the Edwardian era extensions were added to each side of the chancel in 1902.

This is the culmination of a many years of efforts to increase the capacity and improve the amenities at this important place. In one sense, one can trace a commonality of the current developments back to the time of William Wilberforce’s association with Holy Trinity some 230 years ago by way of evangelical Christianity: by drawing more people to worship here, as it did back then.

Holy Trinity has bucked the national trend of churchgoing in the last 15 years enjoying growing attendances. On Sundays, there is barely enough time to bid farewell to the full-house congregation of one service before welcoming those turning up for the next one. As well as the services, other pastoral activities take place in the smaller rooms and there is a lot of pressure on the refreshment amenities.

In employing architects with conservation accreditation, there is a lot of sensitivity to the history of the building, and it has been a major challenge to find ways of ways of significantly increasing its capacity and upgrading its amenities. Georgian churches are a notoriously difficult ‘nut to crack’ in this respect and rightly so. A previous scheme by other architects to place an extension in front of the blank wall at the east end did not find favour. Investigations were made into increasing the capacity by way of a crypt conversion, but this would have been prohibitively expensive and disruptive to the historic fabric of the church here.

There has been a good dialogue with Lambeth’s conservation officer through which the idea to extend the Edwardian portions of the building by metaphorically drawing the existing early C20th facades four metres further out was developed. This will be done by reconstructing the north and south facades of the vestry extensions using traditionally detailed solid brickwork and incorporating the original windows within the new walls. The aesthetic and character of the building will remain the same and the visual impact should be minimal from most viewing points, but the east facade facing the pond will be noticeably longer to the observant. The projection and recession between the existing and new sections will split the facade into sections that maintain the proportions of the existing elements with the aim of giving the impression that it could always have been like that. The main difference will be manifest by the fact that the brickwork will be new. A traditional clay brick was chosen, whose colour does not replicate exactly but is complementary to the varied shades of the Georgian nave and the host Edwardian extensions to which they’ll be spliced. Full scale samples showing differing treatments of the mortar are currently visible against the southern wall.

Behind the hoardings on the north side, the groundworks for the new building, drainage and conduits for upgraded utility connections have already been installed. This work includes a subterranean soakaway tank which will receive the rainwater off the building and retain it within the ground instead of into the sewers. The same will happen on the south side in January. The soakaways are one aspect of improving the environmental friendliness of the building. Other work includes increased insulation and the introduction of heat pumps to reduce the reliance on gas heating, with the aim of reducing the reliance on fossil fuels the next time the boiler becomes due for replacement in the future.

The expanded accommodation will host comfortable, fully accessible meeting rooms,

and toilets on both sides and a new multifunctional chapel space behind the three-part stained-glass window on the upper storey on the south side. A larger and more robust kitchen will be installed which will be able to service larger events including weddings and receptions.

For people approaching the building from The Pavement, there will be a warm welcome by way of a large reception space with a coffee bar with generous windows overlooking the lawn and a connection through to the south aisle. The portico will still be used as a welcome space and visitors at that end will benefit from the installation of new toilets where the current coffee bar is located.

The Planning process took about 5 years to see through due to the sensitivities, extensive consultations and responding to the feedback. This included the ever-engaging question of removing the very tightly ranked pews to open up the space for a greater variety of uses. This took place last year with the benefit of the church offering community breakfasts, after-service lunches and other types of hospitality in a warm, fully accessible and welcoming space.

The hoardings will be up for a year while the extensions are reconfigured, but the church will remain open as much as possible on Sundays. After the work is finished, the building will be open more often and should be a place that more people can enjoy.

Nicholas Weeden

Hanslip & Co. Ltd Architects