Brighton Chapel redeveloped to provide modern facilities and affordable housing
(20/05/2010)

Ebenezer Chapel, run by Brighton Reform Baptist Church, is being redeveloped to provide modern facilities for its congregation and the people of Brighton. The works carried out for The Hyde Group’s HydeMartlet division by Denne, part of the Leadbitter Group, will provide 49 apartments above the modern chapel and community facilities.

Pastor Tony Bickley is looking forward to the opening of the chapel, located on Richmond Parade, which he says will transform the way his church operates. “It will make a massive difference to us. At present we are holding services in an old Victorian church in West Hill Road. It is old and difficult to heat, with steps down to a basement, making access difficult for some of our congregation,” he said.

“The new building will bring modern facilities which meet health and safety standards, meaning that we can offer more to the local community. We have had a significant donation from a member of our congregation that means we will be able to open up for five mornings a week to offer hot drinks, showers and clothes washing facilities for homeless people as we are not aware of any provision for this at the moment. We would also like to offer a lunch club for local elderly residents and will be opening our doors for tea and biscuits to locals and passers-by at least once a week. We are very much looking forward to being able to contribute to the local community in conjunction with the many other community groups who are doing such sterling work.”

The new chapel will have commercial kitchens, toilet and shower facilities and a large community room, as well as a full immersion baptismal pool. The redevelopment of the old 1960s building will also include 49 other homes, three of which will have full disabled access such as specially designed kitchens and bathrooms. The building will have a sedum living roof. Architects Molyneux have also included the provision of photo-voltaic cells on the roof as a renewable energy source, an underground car park for eight cars, cycle parking and rubbish stores.

Graham Brown, Managing Director of Denne, the project’s construction contractor, said: “Denne has a great deal of experience in providing first class affordable housing schemes. The apartments and chapel will make a significant contribution to the quality of life of local people and we are delighted to be working with Hyde, with whom we have built a strong working relationship.”

Until its move to West Hill Road a few years ago, the church held services in the old Ebenezer Chapel on the site of the new development, which was a crumbling concrete building. It was in such a state of disrepair that renovation was not viable. It was then that the Trustees of the church joined forces with Hyde to develop the current scheme.

Tom Shaw, HydeMartlet Development Project Manager, said: “The Ebenezer apartments and church re-development have transformed what was previously a run-down, derelict site to provide a valuable community resource along with new affordable housing. The design for the scheme was developed following extensive consultation with local people and financial contributions have been made from the development to pay for improvements to local schools, parks and sustainable transport. Hyde is pleased to be working in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council to deliver the project with funding provided by the Homes and Communities Agency.”

The building has been designed to meet the EcoHomes Very Good standard to assure very high efficiency in the use of energy, water and materials. This will benefit residents through savings on fuel bills, whilst helping to address the wider impact of development on the environment.

The new homes will be available to rent through Brighton & Hove City Council’s choice based letting scheme or to buy as shared ownership (part buy/part rent) through INplace, The Hyde Group’s affordable home ownership subsidiary, helping first time buyers to get on to the housing ladder.

The new Baptist Chapel and community facility is set to open its doors in the summer.