The current phase of the Halls Renovation Project aims to solve the major damp issues by re-roofing the 160-year-old original upper hall roof, repairing or replacing the rainwater goods, insulating the roof and adding solar panels and battery storage.
In February 2025 we went out to tender for the work. Our budget, based on our quantity surveyor’s costs, was £525,000. Three contractors tendered, with quotes ranging from 634,000 to a staggering £723,000. We sat down with our architect to see what we could do to “value engineer” the project (i.e. cut costs!). By deferring some of the work that didn’t need the scaffolding in place, we managed to reduce the cost of our preferred contractor to fit in with our original budget, which was what our funding plan was based on. The works deferred involved some internal works that could easily be delayed, but also the deferral of £20,000 for the installation of battery storage, which we really didn’t want to do, although they can be added at any future date.
Then the government introduced a new cap of £25,000 per annum per building on the Listed Places of Worship scheme. This created a new £62,000 hole in our funding plan. This was identified as a major risk on our £230,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund application, with the mitigating factor being the deferral of the work that didn’t need scaffolding. Whilst acknowledging that the application was a good application, Heritage Lottery did not award the grant requested, citing the high finance risk to the project. Clearly, the risk to the Listed Places of Worship scheme had now become a reality. The letter stated, “In particular, we thought that the level of unsecured match funding posed a risk to the project.” It continued, “If you wish to reapply, we would be happy to discuss your proposals with you. We would not encourage you to reapply for this project in its current form, but we would be happy to consider a revised application.”
We went back to our preferred contractor following this news, to see how the project might be adapted. They suggested removing the roof from the scaffolding. That would mean working along the roof in strips, removing the old slates, insulating the roof and re-roofing that strip before moving on. That reduced the costs by £51,000. Of course, it also means that the project is more susceptible to prolonged bad weather over the summer.
We had a Teams meeting with one of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s team to review the project and discuss resubmitting the application on the new approach / cost basis. This was a very positive meeting. Following that meeting we resubmitted the application for £230,000, feeling a lot more confident than before. We also submitted our Demonstrator Project stage 2 application to the Church of England Net Zero team for £50,000 of funding, which also brings £36,000 matched funding from the Benefact Trust.
Garfield Weston has confirmed a grant of £30,000, and the Congregation & General Charitable Trust also awarded £15,000, both subject to the project being fully funded. The church’s own funds for the project now stand at £100,700, and we have managed to allocate an additional £8,000, being the 2025 income from our Lanseaton endowment fund.
Heritage Lottery pays 50% up front, 30% when those funds are spent, and 20% in arrears. We submitted an application to Truro Diocese for a £50,000 interest-free 6-month cash-flow loan to be repaid by the final 20%. We also submitted a separate application for a £25,000 five-year interest-free loan to cover the costs of the battery storage, should that be needed. Both loans have been approved by the Diocese.
When we applied for listed buildings consent for the works, the conservation officer saw that our energy efficiency report suggested panels on south-facing roof of the unlisted lower hall. Listed building consent was granted, based on that approach.
When talking to our potential contractors, they all expressed concerns about putting solar panels on the 150-year-old lower hall roof. We have submitted a second listed building consent application seeking to return to solar panels on the upper hall. We will know the outcome of this fresh application in April.
We will know the outcome of the Heritage Lottery application in May and the stage 2 demonstrator project application in April. We are also awaiting decisions from three other small grant funders, two of which will meet in April.
If all of this comes together, our funding plan is now just £15,400 short, with the three small grant funders still to notify us of their decision. We would sign contracts in May and the work would start in June and continue until November. We would retain access to the halls for most of the time, but the scaffolding will reduce our parking.
I mentioned that our value engineering included removing the battery installation. We have applied to the Church of England Net Zero team for a second grant of £10,000 under their Give to Go Green scheme to allow us to reinstate the batteries. This is a matched funding scheme using an online Give a Little account, with the national church match-funding whatever we raise £1 for £1, up to £10,000. Unlike the appeal we ran at the start of the project, this scheme has none of the problems that we experienced with the Aviva and Crowdfunding appeal.
So, in summary, despite some significant setbacks, we are still hoping to be able to delivery this project. We have a lot of applications for which we are awaiting outcomes. Please pray for the success of them all. We really need them all to go through if the project is to be successful.
Mike Sturgess.