Our Director and Conservation Architect Lisa held a “Meet the Architect” event on Saturday on the works undertaken as part of the Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) at Long Street Methodist Church and School. The event formed part of the THI complimentary initiatives to inform the local community on the ongoing restoration project at the School.

Long Street Methodist Church and School is a Grade II* Listed Building comprising of the Church and Schools formed around a central landscaped courtyard.  Designed by noted local architect Edgar Wood in an Arts and Crafts style and completed in 1901, the building is one of very few Arts and Crafts Churches remaining in the UK.  The building has been on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register since 2014.

The event started in Long Street Church with an introduction by Christine Grime, trustee for the Greater Manchester Building Preservation Trust followed by a talk by Lisa about the scope of the repair works undertaken, the programme and funding of the project and the challenges that had been encountered during the works on site.  The talk also looked at the reinstatement of original Edgar Wood details along with the impact of repairs in the 1970’s and the subsequent damage these had caused to the building fabric.

The talk was then followed by a guided tour of the completed areas including the external repair works to the central courtyard highlighting the new lime render, the reinstated leaded windows and the sensitive stonework repairs followed by an internal tour of the Main Hall and community rooms.

The phase one works, undertaken by main contractors Stone Edge, are due to be completed in early September 2018 and are funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund through the and by Viridor grant funding.