Kenilworth church refurb to finish by start of 2017

The interior of St John’s Church in Warwick Road is being transformed to increase its capacity and to install an environmentally-friendly heating system to warm the whole building.

The vestry is also being extended to allow the construction of an office and a larger kitchen which can cope with the higher amount of people the church will be able to fit in.

A contract for the refurbishment work was agreed in January 2016, but the £200,000 needed for the planned extension to the vestry has only just been raised.

The inside of the church should be ready to use by September, and the extension should be completed in November with the interior ready for use by the start of 2017.

Two sets of automatic doors at the church’s entrance and lobby will also feature in the refurbishment, aiming to allow easier disabled access to the church and to keep the heat in during colder days.

Project manager Rob Cheetham said: “The project has moved on well over the last couple of months. We have received many donations and a couple of loans, so now have the go ahead for the vestry extension.

“The aim is to have the new plant room built and watertight by the end of September, so heating to the new church floor should happen in early October.

“The builders aim to have the vestry extension finished by November. Given we have to kit out the kitchen and the office et cetera, it should be ready for use at the beginning of the new year.”

Funding for the heating system, a ground source heat pump, has yet to be finalised, although Rob is confident the system will be ready to go by October.

£300,000 was raised by the congregation in just one Sunday in 2013 to fund the initial refurbishment.