THE PORTFOLIO The portfolio is substantial and comprises over 200 properties including clergy housing, investment property, land and redundant churches.
St John’s, Chatham
St John’s, Chatham is a strategic project for the Diocese. It encompasses major capital works and an innovative community programme. The capital works will transform St John’s Church from a heritage building at risk, into a thriving sustainable Gateway Community Hub that supports and enables mission in Chatham for the longer term. It is an exciting time for Chatham as substantial investment is being made in the regeneration of the town and the transformation of St John’s into a Gateway Community Hub is a key component of the wider strategy in an area of high deprivation hit hard by the pandemic. St John’s is one of the most prominent buildings in Chatham, the size of a small cathedral and the only Grade II* Listed building in the town centre. Built 200 hundred years ago to ‘celebrate the Victory of Waterloo’, it houses important heritage and unique war memorials reflecting the connection with the town’s history. It was closed for 20 years, its heritage inaccessible to local communities. In the past 4 years, the Diocese, Heritage England and the Church Commissioners (CCs) co-funded emergency works of £310k to maintain the building’s integrity for the immediate future. The Diocese and CCs have invested a further £330k to reopen and manage the building where the local worshipping community has grown in just two years to about 100 people. The new capital works programme is scheduled to commence this August and complete in December 2024 during which time the church community will temporarily relocate to another nearby church. The new Head of Property will bring their expertise and experience to this project to maintain a strategic overview to ensure successful delivery of the capital works programme. Read more about St John’s, Chatham
NET ZERO
Protecting creation’s life for future generations As part of our prophetic calling, we commit to speak about our role in caring for God’s creation, to work for the protection of the natural world and to equip Christians and churches to care for it. The Church of England has set an ambitious target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030. A successful joint bid with Canterbury Diocese to the Church Commissioners’ Net Zero Carbon fund, means we will be able to finance a full-time role in each diocese to provide advice to parishes on their net zero work, as well as a shared role across both dioceses to maximise the learning across parishes. The net zero work focuses on our property portfolio, complemented by the Eco Church awards scheme which addresses our behaviours and other areas. Greening our clergy housing As part of our journey towards Net Zero, our project surveying Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) to establish the energy efficiency or otherwise of all parsonages within the Diocese was completed in 2023. Once fully reviewed the information will be used to provide recommendations to improve efficiency. An insulation ‘pilot’ scheme was also completed this year, with 15 properties benefitting from an upgrade to their insulation at a total cost of £30k.
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