How to recycle a church

Retrofit is, and will continue to be, a priority in heritage and other sectors - but what does it mean? Deputy Head of PCAS Steven Robb looks at some examples of the reuse of historic churches...

At its heart, retrofit is all about finding ways to make existing buildings more energy efficient. It can be complicated, and traditional buildings need bespoke solutions that differ from newer buildings, but a recent survey we carried out found strong public support for retrofit as one of the top measures for helping Scotland achieve net-zero targets by 2045.????

Retrofitting can also take place when an existing building is repurposed for another use. The reuse of buildings, to conserve their embodied carbon, is an aspiration of Scotland's recent planning guidance, NPF4, with demolition now viewed as a least preferred option.?

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Scotland has a long and successful track record in retrofitting and reusing historic buildings. One of our own HQ buildings in Edinburgh, Longmore House, is a converted hospital, and most communities will have a bank converted to a restaurant or bar.?

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In recent years, with the closure of many places of worship, we’ve seen a considerable increase in applications to reuse these often highly distinctive, buildings.??

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Proposals to convert churches into homes are the most common example of reuse, and sometimes the only viable option. An early rural conversion was Craig Church in Angus, converted in 1974 to a house and artist’s studio, and generally, smaller churches are often able to be successfully converted into single homes.? However, fitting many homes into larger churches, whilst retaining their special interest, can often be complicated.??

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More recently, a residential route for churches has been the short-term lets market, with conversions including the former United Presbyterian church in Stichill village in the Scottish Borders and the landmark former Strathaven East parish church.??

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There is a long and positive history of church buildings being repurposed for a variety of uses, with many current churches already operating additional activities, from cub scout and guides meetings to book fairs and art clubs.??

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Sometimes local communities go a step further and take on the management of their church and expand its use, as in the case of category B listed Kilmaronock Old Kirk. The conversion of a former Portobello parish church to the Bellfield Community centre was the first successful urban community Right to Buy project in the country, assisted by The Scottish Government .?It now hosts weddings, events, classes, and concerts.???

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We’ve also seen many former churches continuing as places of worship for new denominations, with the former London Road Church of Scotland, at the top of Edinburgh’s Easter Road, becoming a new base for the Christian Revival Church.?

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There have also been some more quirky and unusual schemes for reusing churches, which are often the oldest and most architecturally significant buildings within our communities. We’ve seen proposals to convert churches into pubs, theatres, galleries, music venues, climbing walls, gyms, tattoo parlours and even a supermarket and a crematorium.???

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In advising local authorities on reuse proposals we advocate for sustainable projects that protect the cultural significance of listed buildings. Our main priority is to prevent the loss of buildings, with our Managing Change guidance on the Use and Adaptation of Listed Buildings providing a series of alternatives to demolition, to help enable the reuse of a building.?

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Our advice aims to see the sensitive treatment of the entire building (inside and out) but understand that often some degree of internal alteration is required to create usable and flexible spaces. We have found that the most successful projects retain the spatial quality of an interior, and in some cases can incorporate original fixtures like organs, wall memorials and even pulpits and pews.?

That’s Entertainment?

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Churches are often converted to leisure and entertainment venues.????

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An early project was the Tron in Glasgow, converted to theatre use in 1980.?A church was first built on the site in 1529. Since then, the space has been home to places of worship, a meeting hall, a market, a storehouse, a police station and now a theatre.??

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Staying in Glasgow, òran Mór on Great Western Road is a successful venue for weddings, concerts and other events. Originally the Kelvinside Free Church, the building’s foundation stone was laid in 1862, and it remained a church until the late 1970s. It opened as òran Mór (Gaelic for “Big Song”) in 2004.????

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And Websters Theatre – or Landsdowne Church as it was originally known – is now a bar, wedding venue and theatre. The name ‘Websters’ comes from celebrated stained-glass artist Alf Webster, who created several windows in the building. You can read more about him and his legacy in a recent piece on our Engine Shed blog, by Stained Glass Craft Fellow Gordon Muir.??

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Over in Edinburgh, the Filmhouse Cinema was converted from a former United Presbyterian church on Lothian Road, and began screening films in 1978. Other conversions have used the acoustics of churches to good effect, like the A listed Hope Park Chapel on Clerk Street, now better known as much-loved music venue, the Queens Hall.?

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Just Keep Moving?

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St Kenneth’s Church in Glasgow originally opened in 1900 and it became a listed building in 1989. Today though, it is the Sanctuary Gym.

They have kept the main nave space with its horse-shoe balcony, as well as?the central pulpit and organ – and of course the new name pays homage to the building’s original use, as a safe place to go and worship.??

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Gym conversions are comparatively unusual so far, but climbing centres are prolific!? In these cases the high vaulted ceilings are a boon to climbers. Examples include:?

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• Recently celebrating thirty years as a climbing centre is Alien Rock, created within the former St Andrews Free Church (known locally as the Fisherman’s Church) in Newhaven.??

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• We helped to grant fund Above Adventure in Kilmarnock in the B listed former Grange Church, whose spire is a local landmark??

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• Three Wise Monkeys in Fort William operates from the C listed MacIntosh Memorial Church.??

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• Whilst not a publicly accessible climbing centre, in Penicuik, the A listed church designed by Rogue Victorian architect FT Pilkington, is now used as a specialist training centre for rope access workers.?

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Food for Thought??

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Other former churches have been converted to pubs, including Frankenstein’s in Edinburgh, or restaurants such as Aspire in Portsoy, or Morningside's Pizza Express.??

The local Scotmid in Torphins is housed in the Former United Free Church, so you can see some of the original wooden roof beams and stained-glass windows when you walk down the aisles for your milk and bread.??

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Retail therapy?

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Inverness is home to LEAKEY'S BOOKSHOP LIMITED , famous as Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop hosting over 100,000 books. Since 1979 it has occupied the former Greyfriars Free Church, originally built in the 1790s as a place of worship for the Gaelic community.??

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Edinburgh’s Tron Kirk, for years the centre of the city’s Hogmanay celebrations, closed as early as 1952 and was almost demolished in the 1960s.? More recently, it has been run by the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust as a market for 20 Scottish artists and designers.? Elsewhere in Edinburgh, former churches are in use as auctioneers’ premises and a specialist lighting showroom.??

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In Tankerness, Orkney, a C listed church has been transformed into a jeweller’s workshop, gallery and cafe, whilst in Whitehills near Banff a former chapel now serves as a ceramics workshop.? In Greenock the long-established furniture firm HG PYPER LTD. utilises a B listed classical building that once served the town's Gaelic worshippers.?

What’s Next??

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Currently, a circus skills school is planned for the former St Paul's Church in Greenock and applications are in for Tattoo Studios in former churches in the Borders and in Aberdeen. In Kelso, the long empty B listed former North Trinity church has been repaired for use as film studios.?

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Some churches have closed and then have had a series of other uses before surprisingly reverting to ecclesiastical use.? In Glasgow, a Kelvingrove church became orchestra rehearsal space in 1979 before coming back to church use in 2012.? A Bathgate church, previously converted to a cinema, is set to return to worship. But perhaps the most unusual story is an Edinburgh church converted into an electricity substation in the 1950s, latterly reconverted.?

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A closely-associated use is the crematorium at Houndwood, highly visible overlooking the A1 in the Scottish Borders, which opened in 2015 and utilises the B listed 1836 parish church, even retaining traditional pews within.?

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As far as we’re concerned, if a building remains in use and is being cared for, that’s a positive outcome. We’ve made an award of ￡159,311 to Development Trusts Association Scotland to support the repurposing of churches in community ownership.?

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The redundancy and reuse of churches will continue to be an issue for many years, with many hundreds of buildings due to be disposed of in the next decade. The loss of publicly accessible places of worship for a community, often used for many hundreds of years, is clearly regrettable.??

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However, there are many opportunities out there that can give these much-loved buildings a new lease of life. Sensitive repurposing schemes can allow these buildings to be repaired and maintained, giving them a sustainable future.? Successful reuse proposals can retain a building’s character and special interest, as well as their contribution to local townscape and Scotland’s wider heritage.?

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Further reading??

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• Managing Change in the Historic Environment (including Use and Adaptation of Listed Buildings)??

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• Find out about our Grant Funding, which has been used to support many re-use projects

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• Guide to Energy Retrofit of Traditional Buildings?

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• Support for communities working with church buildings?(from Heritage Trust Network )

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• New Uses for Former Church Buildings (publication from Scottish Civic Trust )