A fascinating new area of work for us at Greener Edge has been taking part in an enormous project to survey as many churches for the Church of England as possible – across the whole country.
Many of these buildings are old, and all are looked after as community assets by dedicated volunteers. We caught up with Greener Edge Operations Manager Will Miller to learn about the unique opportunities and challenges we’ve encountered trying to ‘green up’ these incredible buildings.
So! What’s different about surveying a church compared to your ordinary job – say, a community hall or a business premises?
Well, where to begin! First of all there are a load of items in churches that need careful consideration – they’re of value and are generally sensitive to temperature and humidity. Organs – for example – one has needed 16 degrees to be in tune, and another needed 17 degrees! That degree of specificity is a really unique challenge and a fun one to try and figure out in a way that works for them.
Another church needed constant background heat in order to prevent the fabric of the building from rotting – they are waiting for £250,000 to fix a major problem, many of these buildings are hundreds of years old and have seen changes to the fabric made over many decades, years, or even centuries!
Because of the heritage value of the buildings and the significance of many of their features and contents, any intervention work, from maintenance to energy efficiency measures have to be well planned, executed by skilled craftsmen or tradesmen, and implemented with a great deal of care! The stakes are very high here because it’s our national heritage.
There are other logistical considerations – changing lighting over to LED for example will often require scaffolding with high ceilings involved! Not a common problem!
No two churches are alike I suppose! What’s the most interesting thing you’ve seen while surveying a church?
North West England! All of it! On one visit we were lucky enough to be taken to the very top of St Silas’ church in Blackburn and you could see for miles and miles – not a view many people get to enjoy. At the same church, they have a huge collapsible geodesic greenhouse-style dome which they erect at the Western end of the church (narthex), which they can heat on a smaller scale and keep the congregation warm in the winter! It’s interesting to see how many of these churches are already adapting to higher energy costs using new technology. The concept of a winter church strategy for targeted heating is really fascinating and forward-thinking.
Being shown around the workings of the church has been wonderful – we got to go into the bell-ringing-room in one room and it was so fascinating. Walking through some of the rooms usually kept private feels like walking through hundreds of years of history. From there we went into the clock room, and then further on to the roof.
To see the way that bell-ringing notation is written down is crazy – this is living history and it’s a privilege to be able to protect it.
There are an awful lot of churches (hundreds if not thousands?) involved in this mass survey. But why should churchgoers care about making their church greener?
Well – from speaking to many of the wonderful volunteers and congregants on my visits, it’s really about looking after god’s creation. The idea of care as a form of worship is quite a beautiful one, I think, and doing so on a huge scale like this is likely to have an enormous impact in terms of carbon. The other side of environmental efficiency of course is that increasing the resilience of a parish helps them sustain services and maintain churches into the future. We’ve seen many churches close over the last decades due to costs and a warm congregation is a happy congregation. There’s a feeling that investing in this way can help sustain the rich traditions and community found at these buildings for many years more.
What’s the age of the oldest church you’ve assessed so far?
900 years old. That’s 100 years or so before they invented buttons. Old!
Much of your work will involve working out the best way to heat these places – how do you make sure that any new ways of keeping a church and its congregants warm that you end up recommending don’t damage the heritage materials and character of the church? How do church wardens feel about interventions like solar panels?
Wardens that we’ve spoken to have been very happy with modern interventions on churches in general – for many it’s a matter of survival so that worship can continue in the future. Some interventions are already commonplace and in fact the church has already been a pioneer, in using glass wind-lobbies, for example. Somewhat surprisingly there is significant support for solar panels on churches by congregations – On the other hand – neighbours can often have objections to things which may change the aesthetics of a church. For congregants a church is a functional space – for someone with a more aesthetic relationship with a church, the sanctity of its roof, say, is greater than the worship that happens within!
Has anything surprised you, working on these great old buildings?
Yes! Heat pumps are actually really extremely well suited for the great big old heaters and pipes already installed in churches – so in some ways many churches are ready built for new technology to be implemented. It’s nice when old technology meets new technology and they get on!
Finally – obviously you’re recommending some quite big changes sometimes. What have your conversations with custodians and wardens been like? It’s honestly been fun. We’ve been getting lots and lots emails from wardens who are really excited about this – some have been monitoring energy use already for years so that they have the right data to make the most informed decisions on this – they are way ahead of us sometimes. On site, we’ve been welcomed with open arms (and a nice cup of tea usually). Their love and passion for the bricks and mortar of the building as well as the spiritual side of the church really shines out – and that certainly extends to protecting the future of the church and reducing its impact. It’s great to see that type of care for a building which extends to securing its future.