Health and Safety There have been no reported health and safety incidents or accidents in the period. The church path entrance has been blocked off and there is now no thoroughfare between Church and Vicarage Lanes. Access to Dore Old School has been established for parents and children attending First Steps Nursery via the Vicarage Lane entrance. Wider access to the churchyard by visitors is available at this point in the works but this may change as and when external work commences. Progress and Programme Progress on the building project has been slower than anticipated in the period. The reason for this is that high severity asbestos was discovered at the front of the nave under the raised podium floor in a supplementary, planned, asbestos survey. The nature of this asbestos and its location required a further (third) survey to be carried out to ensure it was not present under the existing nave floor. This survey took an additional 2 weeks to organise and complete. The positive was that the asbestos was limited to the area under the raised podium floor. A further two weeks programme time was lost in mobilisation of the asbestos removal company and the removal work taking an additional 1 week to complete from that originally forecast. The asbestos removal exercise is due to be complete at the end of w/c 4 March 24. However, T&C Williams have progressed the Enabling Works element of their package in the period by removing the pipe organ, the pulpit and the choir vestry cupboards and disconnecting and draining the existing central heating system. This work has revealed that the internal choir vestry/nave wall is in good condition with no water ingress and that there is a substantial existing opening in the wall between the nave and the former organ chamber. The nave pews, rood screen, organ pipes, a lectern and a Bishops chair have been removed and auctioned in the period as well as a number of surplus hassocks. Activities in the Next Period · Completion of asbestos removal · Removal of existing ceramic tiles in the chancel including investigation into the floor construction. · Removal of central heating radiators and associated pipework · Obtain a final version of the Written Scheme of Investigation from ARS · Issue instructions to Northern Power Grid regarding moving the permanent electrical supply to the Church. · Trial cores in choir vestry floor to prove construction and thickness.
Less progress than planned occurred in the period since January 24 due to the presence of asbestos being recorded in an underfloor area at the front of the nave. This area only became available for inspection when the church building was vacated at the beginning of January. After a 2 week mandatory standdown, it is planned for the asbestos to be fully removed starting in week commencing 26 February with a two week duration.However good progress has been made in removal of the pews, the organ, rood screen and choir vestry cupboards as well as uncovering an existing opening between the nave and the former organ chamber. All this work is necessary to enable the actual construction phase and has gone without hitch.With asbestos removal starting and to be followed by the building works ramping up, the pathway between Church Lane and Vicarage Lane will be closed for pedestrian access until November 24. The pathway between the Lych Gate on Vicarage Lane and First Steps nursery located in Dore Old School will remain open to form safe access for children and parents visiting First Steps. General access to the churchyard by members of the public will be allowed at the weekends and public holidays only (i.e. when the Contractor will not be working). These arrangements will be kept under review and may be subject to change depending on the work being carried out and the feedback we get.
The church building of Christ Church Dore has shut its doors for approximately 9 months to allow modernisation, access improvements and refurbishment to start in mid January 24.The pattern of weekly services has changed with effect from 21 February 24 to:5.30pm Sunday: main weekly family service held now in the Christ Church Dore Community Centre on Townhead Road, Dore10.30am Thursday: mid week Holy communion service held in Dore Methodist Church, High Street, Dore (by kind permission of Dore Methodist Church).For further details of services, please contact the Parish Office.
The project for redeveloping Christ Church is gathering pace. The recent and welcome news is that the church received support from Bishop Pete, the Diocesan Advisory Committee and then the Chancellor for the revised and simplified plans that were submitted. We now have all the permissions we need to start. Martin Blower, Iain Lowe, Andy Patrick and John Cunnington, architect, worked with consultants to look at possible savings and brought the cost of the construction for Phase 2 down to £671,000. When adding the consultants fees and contingency this approximates to an overall cost of £800,000. On the other side of the coin the Fundraising Team and Steve Clarke, deputy treasurer, have worked on raising money. Applications for funding to trusts have numbered over 40. We are very grateful to Sheffield Church Burgesses Trust, Benefact Trust, Garfield Weston, Gavins Foundation, Cutlers’ Trust, Dore School Charity and Land Trust, Sheffield Diocesan Board of Finance and Aviva for their support for Phase 2. We await the results of three more trusts who will report back by the end of January whether or not we have been successful. The PCC met for an extra meeting on 30th November 2023 dedicated to looking at the financial background and whether we should step out in faith at this point and sign contracts. The PCC decided that it was important to do this because deferring would incur significant costs from inflation and renegotiation. This will mean that because there was a potential £200,000 shortfall a loan or loans would need to be arranged. The day after the meeting we received welcome news, as a result of your prayers, that we had been awarded £25,000 and so the total we need to borrow is starting to come down. There have been exploratory conversations between Steve Clarke and 4 potential lenders regarding a loan. Some members of the church congregation have come forward to say they are prepared to loan the church some money. This would be arranged through Steve Clarke who is happy to have confidential conversations with you if that is what you wish to explore. The decision of the PCC was to direct Martin Blower to sign the contract with our construction company T&C Williams, Builders of Sheffield. This is good news for us as an eco-church that we have a local company with a smaller carbon footprint and also gives local Sheffield tradespeople work. So what next? There will be a phase of communication with our church family and then the neighbours and community. The church building closes on the last day of the year with a combined thanksgiving service at 10am. The whole church will come together and give thanks for God’s goodness helping us along a difficult road. On 8th January some items such as the Decalogue Plaque will be removed and put in safe storage for conservation. Others such as the pews will be removed. The next few months will see changes and this can be both exciting and unnerving. The church leadership will be communicating regularly with you about what is happening to the church building and if you have any questions please speak with a member of your PCC. Update from the PCC December 2023
