Christmas heralds a new beginning for St Mary's

As the clergy prepare for one of the busiest weeks in the church calendar, the project team are putting the final preparations in place to ensure that the works can begin unhindered in the New Year. After many months of planning, fundraising and development meetings the project will finally get underway in the North East corner of the church on 9th January. Some of the first changes that visitors will notice will include:

· The Vaults and Gardens Café will be closed from 3rd January so that both the café and the old library above it can be refurbished.

 · Partitions will be erected beneath the organ and between the nave and the Adam de Brome chapel to allow for conservation works to be carried out (the nave will remain accessible via the high street entrance until the summer)

· The scaffolding will continue to grow up the tower and spire in preparation for stonework repairs and cleaning

Over the past few weeks the scaffolding has been advancing at a steady pace and, as I write this entry, it has now reached the viewing platform at the base of the spire. The photographs below were taken by a member of our new volunteer photographer team on the day when some of the key loading beams were carefully lifted into place.

All photographs courtesy of Natalie Nolan, Volunteer Photographer

I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of all of the staff, clergy and project team at St Mary’s to wish all of our readers and visitors a Merry Christmas and we look forward to you joining us in the New Year to share more of our exciting project developments.

Lucinda Williams, Heritage Education & Volunteers Officer

December 2011 - Project Update

As the scaffold grows taller, progress continues behind the scenes to prepare for the commencement of the works in January and the team have turned their attention to communications. On Sunday the 27th of November there was a drop-in session in the Old Library for parishioners and visitors alike. Members of the project team were on hand to answer questions about the project and plans were available to view. On Sunday 11th December the church's Education Officer Lucinda Williams will be in conversation with Canon Brian Mountford during the morning Eucharist discussing details of the new education and volunteers programme and how we plan to bring the stories of St Mary's to life.

Photograph by Natalie Nolan

On Thursday the 17th of November the development project was featured in the Oxford Times and we hope that the Times will run several follow-up features on various aspects of the project. To view this article, click HERE.

More details will follow in future newsletters on a community project to decorate the hoarding around the church and we anticipate that the scaffold will be have printed images focusing on the heritage of St Mary’s on several sides of the tower.

Sophie Slade, Project Coordinator

Project Leaders Speak Out

In the second instalment of our staff interviews, we spoke to two fundamental members of the project team, Sophie Slade and Nigel Aplin, who are responsible for managing and delivering the major project outcomes and making sure that everything runs as smoothly as possible.

Sophie Slade, Project Coordinator
"Taking up the role of Project Coordinator has been a fascinating and enjoyable experience. I feel very honoured to be tasked with overseeing such a complex and important project. St Mary's is one of the most interesting historic buildings I have known and the various communities and visitors who benefit from it help to bring it to life. I am most looking forward to seeing the freshly conserved and repaired building emerge. It will also be a joy to see improved facilities for the staff and visitors."

Nigel Aplin, Project Manager
"As project manager for the building works, I am delighted to see the scaffolding being erected around the tower and spire, ahead of the main construction works commencing in the New Year. This is the culmination of nearly four years leading the Church and designers through the project process, working through several steps to get us to this position:

1. Feasibility stage: taking the initial ideas and identifying the scope and budget cost of the works; formulating a plan and programme to undertake the works; and identifying ways of funding the project.

2. Concept Design stages: successfully bidding for Heritage Lottery Fund development money to develop the building design ideas; develop our thoughts on the how the Church can tell its story and involve the community.

3. Enabling building works: provide an office base (and new toilets!) for the Church to occupy during the main building works.

4. Design Completion: successfully bidding for the major Heritage Lottery Fund implementation grant, having raised over £1million to allow us to bid. This allowed us to complete our design work and detail how the education and interpretation programmes will work. We have followed this by tendering the building works over the past months.

For me, one of our greatest challenges has been in programming the works whilst keeping parts of this iconic building safely open. The Church wished to remain at least partially open for worship and ministry during the works, so either the Nave or Chancel will be kept open. This has required early remodelling of the Narthex office, providing a new kitchenette and toilets, which can be independently used throughout the building works. Additionally, the tower and café are major attractions, particularly busy during the summer months, providing income and local employment, so these are programmed to be closed during the quieter winter months, which provide a technical challenge for accessing and repairing the stonework. We are now working with Beard, our building contractor, to minimise disruption and ensure smooth running during the works.

Whilst four years seems a long time, we are still on target to complete the main building works in late 2012, as originally planned. This reflects the dedication and enthusiasm of the Church and its designers to meet the target dates set out at the start of this journey. "

Education & Volunteering - What's New?

In the three months since my appointment I have been consistently overwhelmed by the exciting and inspiring opportunities that St Mary’s has to offer, particularly as a learning resource. For a building with such a tremendously diverse history I have been surprised to find that there are still a number of features and stories which remain untold. The relationship between the education and interpretation teams on this project is crucial in ensuring that these stories are brought to life in a way that is both interesting to visitors and one which inspires members of the existing congregation to see their church in new and exciting ways.

  

A crucial element in building the new education programme will involve working closely with partner organisations and local schools to give them the opportunity to tell us what they would like to see and take part in when the restoration is complete. University Church is a wonderfully rich learning environment and we hope that through our consultations with a variety of different groups we will be able to encourage audiences of all ages to participate in this exciting once in a lifetime project.

Helping us to tell these stories will be a team of volunteer welcomers and guides who will look after our new Welcome Desk and deliver tours to groups of visitors. Visitors to St Mary’s come for many different reasons and the welcome desk will become a place where they can find out more about the church, collect trails and leaflets and enquire about upcoming events. To find out more about joining our new volunteer team, click HERE to contact us. The deadline for these applications is January 20th 2012.

As a result of our recent volunteer photographer recruitment campaign, I am delighted to welcome Natalie to the church to head up our photography team. Natalie is an architecture student with a particularly unusual enthusiasm for scaffolding which explains her attraction to the position! I have been delighted by the positive response to this campaign and look forward to working with Natalie and the other members of the team as they capture the restoration in all of its glory over the coming months.

Lucinda Williams, Heritage Education & Volunteers Officer

November 2011 - Project Update 2

Since the last update, the main contractor for the project has been appointed. Beard Oxford will be responsible for delivering the repairs, renovations and conservation work that forms the ‘renewal’ part of the project. There has been some delay in getting practical dates and information to those concerned due to the complicated nature of the scaffolding design. Discussions about the design for the scaffold have been ongoing since September and it was essential to finalise this design before the work could begin. Since then the pace has picked up considerably. Between now and the end of the year the contractor will be erecting the scaffold around the tower and the exterior of the nave. Access to the shop and church from the Radcliffe Square entrance will be limited while the scaffold is being erected and it is likely that access through this door will only be possible at weekends. A safe tunnel will be built shortly to maintain access to both of the Vaults entrances.

January 2012 will see the start of Phase 2 of the project. This phase will be the most challenging for clergy, staff, parishioners and visitors as the entire north-east corner will be out of bounds and we will only have the nave and narthex offices. Full details are available from the church office.

For more information about the project and to speak to members of the project team about their plans, come along to our Open Day on Sunday 27th November at 12pm. This drop-in session is an opportunity for you to ask any questions and to view some of the architectural plans.

Sophie Slade, Project Coordinator

November 2011 - Project Update

Preparations for the erection of the contractor's site compound and scaffolding to the tower is picking up place and from the 7th of November work will centre on completing the compound, providing office, toilet and catering facilities for the contractor. Work to erect the tower scaffold will centre on building an access scaffold to allow the contractor to get nearer to the areas of the tower where they will be putting in supports for the main scaffold. The shop and tower will only be accessible from the High Street entrance.

 

 Sophie Slade, Project Coordinator

St Mary's staff share their thoughts

Over the coming months we will be interviewing members of staff, new and old, to find out what they think of the plans for the redevelopment. This month we've been catching up with some of the clergy and staff who were working in the church when the funding was awarded:

 Canon Brian Mountford, vicar of St Mary's:

 “I am delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has decided to make this significant award to the University Church of St Mary the Virgin. It comes after long and careful consultation with local people, national bodies, and professional advisers as to what is best for this iconic Oxford building. In the process we have been helped to think about widening our educational outreach as well as the conservation of the fabric.

Everyone at St Mary’s is looking forward to being part of this challenging development and to the involvement of the local community in the process. As the work goes ahead both the church and theVaults and Gardens Cafe will be faced with considerable temporary restrictions, but the end-product will be a transformation to see St Mary’s through the next fifty years. I would also like to thank once again the Clore Duffield Foundation, the University of Oxford, several trusts and many individuals for donations already made.”

Ruth Rundle, Parish Administrator:

"Working at St Mary’s is an enormous privilege at the best of times but I feel incredibly lucky to be working here at such an exciting time in the Church’s history. I’m looking forward to seeing the transformation occur as the work progresses and even more, seeing the finished product!"

 Will Pouget, founding director of the Vaults and Garden Café:

 "We are very excited about these dramatic improvements to the building particularly those allowing us to host many more events (both private and community based) with much improved facilities allowing more ambitious menus and a greater hospitality service. We are proud also that our vision of using seasonal locally sourced organic& ethical produce has been so supported by the church and that being a part of these improvements will enable us to bring such produce to a wider audience.”

Lucinda Williams, Heritage Education & Volunteers Officer