Historic Churches 2020

20 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 27 TH ANNUAL EDITION admin centre relocated to a mezzanine floor above, utilising the height of the building to create a modern office with space for desks, computers and people. From the reception a high stone archway leads into the nave. Originally in-filled with brick, the archway was opened up, replacing the solid wall with a full height glass screen and bespoke glass doors, providing a light, airy and welcoming vista into the church. However, the introduction of glazing did raise some issues regarding privacy and safe-guarding, especially as the new office space above was built across the width the arch and clearly visible from the nave. The church is regularly used by school groups who require privacy, and services such as weddings and funerals are better conducted away from the public gaze, without the distraction of the team working in the office. The decision was therefore taken to specify switchable (privacy) glass so the whole screen can become fully opaque at the touch of a button. A new meeting space was created to the rear of the church by completely enclosing the arches to the narthex with glass in-fill panels, installing double glass doors in the central arch. Again, switchable glass was specified, making the area completely private when the glass is opaque and fully open to the nave when it’s transparent. The reordering of St Dionis is very much a functional transformation as well as a visual improvement: the church has installed a kitchen with full catering facilities, able to provide meals for homeless guests as well as managing other functions and catered meetings. Staffed by volunteers, meals for up to 70 people are cooked regularly for visitors to the Glass Door night shelter in the Mission Hall next door. St Dionis is celebrating the re- ordering as a significant success: it has a vibrant and thriving congregation with a regular programme of events ranging from ‘Bacon and Bible’ breakfast sessions for men, curry nights for women and ‘Messy Church’ sessions for the kids. The use of structural glass as a key element to upgrade and reorder a building such as St Dionis is an effective way to meet a variety of improvements and changes with minimal impact on the original architecture. It introduces light, improves the visual welcome and can be employed to meet many different requirements – including an easy switch between full privacy and clear visual access. PETER HAZELDEAN is MD of Ion Glass (www.ionglass.co.uk ) which specialises in heritage structural glazing. He has worked with many churches throughout the UK on a wide variety of different re-ordering and modernising projects in glass. The new reception area and (right) its structural glass screen seen from the nave, with a new mezzanine level above the door: the use of switchable privacy glass allows the nave to maintain control over its privacy during funerals and other sensitive events S tructural glass cut carefully around a column to avoid making permanent alterations to an important original feature The glazing to the new meeting room in the narthex with the privacy glass switched to transparent and (right) to obscure