St Clements Church Cambridge sits in the heart of Cambridge City Centre, close to St John’s College. It is one of the oldest in Cambridge with the current building having been constructed in the 13th Century.
With the prime city-centre location, the PCC commissioned Freeland Rees Roberts – Cambridge Architects (frrarchitects.co.uk) to develop a scheme whereby they could add toilet, kitchen and a meeting place to the church, which could be used by the church but also look to hire out to the public to develop an additional income stream for the church.
Lodge and Sons, following a successful tender process came to the site with a blank canvas and the difficult task in any historic building of undertaking groundworks in a historic location. The initial plan was to use conventional concrete foundations thus requiring quite a large amount of excavation and associated archaeology.
However, following detailed research from the client an alternative method of piling was suggested which was a Quadrapile, this involved the installation of aluminium alloy helical piles which turned out to be an excellent modern addition to the church and minimised disruption in the ground and archaeology.
From these foundations, a steel frame was erected and a timber substructure built around this to give the church its new facilities.
All of the joinery was manufactured close to Cambridge in Oak to complement the existing features of the church.
The finishing touch to the project was provided by RM Hillam Hot Forged Ironwork | Ironwork Specialists | Cambridgeshire (blacksmith.uk.com). They have supplied and fitted bespoke ironwork within the new facilities and also to other areas of the church. These show high-quality metalwork with a traditional but modernist finish.
Phase 1
This is a construction of a kitchen, 2 WC’s and an upstairs meeting room. With work to the old leaded lights window and some fantastic ironwork
