Church of St Mary’s the Virgin, Brecon
| Project Architect | Bonnie Kitchen of Hummingbird Architecture |
|---|---|
| Contract Value | £360k |
| Contract Start Date | January 2017 |
| Contract Completion Date | July 2017 |
| Site Address | Church of St Mary’s the Virgin, St Mary’s Street, Brecon LD3 7AA |
The project involved urgent high-level structural and roof repairs to the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Brecon.
The church is a Grade II* listed building and dates back to the 12th century. Its location in the centre of Brecon and the dominating 16th-century tower make it one of the most prominent buildings in Brecon.
The building was in a vulnerable state and was closed on 31st August 2016 to undertake the repair works. It is registered on Brecon Beacons National Park Authority’s 2014 List of Buildings at Risk as a Grade 2 building (one that requires urgent repairs to prevent further deterioration and significant fabric loss). The project has been funded by several different bodies, including the Heritage Lottery Fund and CADW.
The affected areas included the nave, chancel, and south aisle roofs, as well as the valley between the nave and the south aisle. Long-term water ingress had caused severe decay of the primary structural members.
The works carried out were part of a long-term repair strategy to remedy these issues through sensitive structural repair works, additional fixings, structural adjustments, improvements to the valley roof detail, and measures to improve ventilation. Due to the historic sensitivity of the building and the extent of the roofing works, an intensive repair program was planned for the underlying medieval oak roof structure, which was severely affected by dry rot and death watch beetle.
A large structural scaffold with a fully encapsulating temporary roof was designed by specialist scaffolding engineers to protect the underlying church roof slopes. Given that the church is located in a central town centre position, surrounded by roads on either side and near the main pedestrian shopping area, the scaffolding operation had to be carefully erected. As main contractors, we oversaw the process and ensured that a strict health and safety compliance regime was followed throughout the scaffolding erection.
An intense five-month program of works commenced, which included stripping and replacing the inner roof flanks and the forty-meter-long central lead gutter. Structural repairs were carried out on all eighty oak scissor roof trusses, and a secondary roof frame was built on top of the existing roof structure to alleviate the load on the original roof.
Internally, all ceiling panels were replaced and redecorated, while repointing and stone repairs were carried out on the gable walls.
As the church’s secondary use is a busy café open to the public six days a week, the church architect designed essential welfare improvements. These included the installation of new extractor units and stainless steel canopies in the existing commercial kitchen, as well as a new set of automatic, electrically operated door mechanisms fitted to traditionally purpose-made softwood doors at the main south porch entrance. A new disabled-access ramp was installed to ensure safe entry for all visitors.
Finally, to protect pedestrians at the south porch entrance, raised curbs and small paved areas with bollards were installed to safeguard the entrance from vehicle movements on the adjacent street.
The works carried out were a long-term repair strategy to remedy the problems through means of sensitive structural repair works, additional fixings, structural adjustments, improvements with the valley roof detail, and measures to improve ventilation.
Due to the historically sensitive fabric of the building and the extent of the roofing works and planned intensive program of repair to the underlying medieval oak roof structure, severely affected by dry rot and death watch beetle, a large structural scaffold with a fully encapsulating temporary roof to protect the underlying church roof slopes was designed by specialist scaffolding design engineers.
Due to the church being situated in a central town centre position and surrounded by roads immediately on either side and broaching on the main pedestrian shopping area, the scaffolding operation was carefully erected with ourselves as main contractors attending and assuring a practical, strict regime of health and safety compliance was carried out on-site as the scaffolding was erected.
An intense five-month program of works commenced, which included stripping and replacing the inner roof flanks and the forty-meter-long central lead gutter. Structural repairs to all eighty oak scissor roof trusses and a secondary roof frame were built up off the existing roof structure to alleviate loading on the original roof. Internally, the ceiling panels were all replaced and redecorated, and repointing and stone repairs were carried out to the gable walls.
As the church’s secondary use is a busy café open to the public six days a week, the church architect designed some vital welfare improvements, which included our installation of new extractor units and stainless steel canopies to the existing commercial kitchen, a new set of automatic opening, electrically operated door mechanics fitted to traditionally purpose-made softwood doors installed at the main south porch entrance. A new disabled purpose-made entrance access ramp was installed to assure safe access to all.
Finally, to protect the south porch entrance for pedestrians, raised curbs and small paved areas with bollards were installed to protect the entrance from vehicle movements on the outside street.
