PROJECT
WINDSORBAPTISTCHURCH, BELFAST
LANDMARK BELFAST BUILDING HAS HELD MANY GUISES OVER THE YEARS, BUT ITS LATEST RESURRECTION IS HERE TO STAY… AMAJESTIC JOB BY CLEARY CONTRACTING
T he former Majestic cinema on the Lisburn Road, Belfast, was one of the last remaining venues of its kind in the city. It lay empty for several years until Cleary Contracting were chosen to restore and refurbish the 80-year-old building on behalf of the Windsor Baptist Church. The building was turned into a furniture store in the 1970s and was once one of the city’s listed buildings until it was de-listed in 1998. The refurbished building, which has recently reopened in a Covid-19 limited capacity, hosts Windsor Baptist Church’s new amphitheater, music rooms, coffee shop, meeting rooms and children’s centre.
It includes the latest in security, audio and network technology. The church currently streams video content including digital gatherings, baptisms and kids and tots programmes and a full spectrum of talks and audio content from the new building. Cleary Contracting carried out a full strip-out, restoration and some extension work to get the building fit for modern worship requirements. “We stripped it right back to the outside frame, removed all the inside walls and stairwells etc,” said Damian Boyd, Contracts Manager. “The existing steel frame was altered and we added a first floor which involved a metal deck installation. New stairwells and roof
were put in – basically we put everything back together using installations fit for the modern day and meeting all new regs.” This included putting a new gas supply into the church to fuel the gas fired heating system. The four gas boilers run radiators and heating panels with a mechanical ventilations system installed to draw the heat around the building. The existing roof to the rear of the building was cladded, so this was replaced with an insulated cladded sheet. The flat roof to the front was replaced with an insulated PVC roof system. As the old building didn’t have an external wall cavity, the team fitted 100mm insulation
“It wasn’t a straightforwardproject, but we like tobe challenged and this job certainly deliveredon that.”
76 | NI BUILDER
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