Jobs Done

The projector and screen are now ready, the cabling installed in the fabric of the building works gives a neat finish to the job. The chairs are in and the upstairs skirting and doors are now in place. The baptistery will be finished on Tuesday, the tiles are in house ready for our man to install them.

Decorating upstairs is the next job followed by the kitchen - then its pretty much job done inside. Outside the builders fencing needs to come down, landscaping put in place and chains installed across the fence posts.

One interesting feature of the last few days has been the appearance of a second lamp post on the land. This will replace the one which is currently in the middle of our entrance !

38 days to opening

Yesterday the new chairs were delivered - it appears as though we have a buy 170 get one free offer. I guess the extra one is just in case of of its brothers has a defect. With the one that I have brought from home that makes 172 chairs. 170 for the congregation and two for the very hard working projector team.

The screen was also installed yesterday for the projector.

Today the joiner is in completing installation of the upstairs fire doors. Nest week the upstairs will be painted and the protective floor covering removed. The kitchen is planned for 2nd week of August and that is us more or less done !

CB

Hard Graft

There were a gang of workers on site this morning as I went past. On Friday a large truck full of top soil was deposited on the car park (thankfully on a plastic sheet) this morning they are filling wheel barrows with the top soil to complete the ground works on the car park side of the site.

4 steel posts will be erected at the entrance to the new car park and once the mountain of top soil is put in the coreect place, white lines will be added to the fresh tarmac to complete the project off as far as the builders are concerned.

I just hope the weather stays fine for them !

CB

Temporary Office Set Up - Hey it works for now !

Mission HQ

I spent three hours in the building this afternoon - just me and my mp3 player blaring music (of the christian variety - naturally !?!?!) into my ears. I can confirm the main hall absorbs sound well cant guarantee I will sing so badly when we are all in.

I was in there taking an inventory of items whcih ive recorded on the new office computer I am going to install.

In the end we have ended up with 16 internal doors each with three keys (all now safely numbered and stored) and 20 window keys. 7 fire extinguishers all numbered and listed so if one decides to go walk about I'll know where it lives ! 12 CAT5 computer or TV Ariel points all identified and logged. I've also labelled the remotes for the velux windows so we know which one opens which.

I also managed to make a start on one of the four building manuals which explain in the finest detail where everything came from and who to contact if something goes wrong. They are really quite dull actually so after a short amount of time I decided to clean all the doors which were greased up with builders finger prints and the glazed panels in them.

This Tuesday our new projector will be finished. I understand the final image size will be 8' x 6' which is plenty big enough for the size of the wall. The chairs are coming on Tuesday as will and will temporarily be cited in the classroom until such time as the main hall is cleaned and ready to take them. Ive drafted a seating plan to accommodate all 170 chairs and have calculated that in small group mode the classroom can accommodate 55 which may be handy for larger small groups.

CB

Good ole Tarmacadam

White lines due to be fitted tomorrow - we will have 12 car parking spaces.

CB

Day one and the work goes on

Day one as legal owners of our new build and its pretty much like any other day on site - a hive of activity.

The tarmac has been laid on the car park this morning and with only minor ground works to be completed the perimeter fencing will gradually disappear. By tomorrow the John Street scaffolding and the union road scaffolding to the end of the building will go. Posts are to be installed tomorrow at the end of the car park to which we will be attaching chains to prevent unauthorised vehicles entering the car park. We plan to have the remaining fences down shortly. Our insurers will be inspecting the building shortly to advise on the required level of security we need we dont expect this to be an onerous task but we have a full schedule of costs for an all singing all dancing system if needs be.

This weekend I will complete the fire plan, label all the keys up, identify and mark all of the Internet connection points (CAT5) and so on. so that we have a full set of plans and documents to fall back on when we need them.

CB

CB

That's it - it's ours.....Praise be to God !!!

Its the strangest thing accepting 'delivery' of a new church. In some ways its like buying a house. One signature and that's it your responsible.

Ibbotsons showed us around, how everything works, we tested the fire alarm, read the meters so that we are now paying for the electricity, checked exit doors and the like.

Then it was one signature by myself on a piece of paper, a copy for us and a copy for the builder accepting the manuals and we were finished. Job done. (Gulp) Ive just signed the church over to us !!!!!!

Like buying my own home it was exciting and daunting at the same time but more so knowing the true reason for the building and the impact that it is going to have on thousands of people across many generations. Praise be to God !!

The building team will now meet again shortly to sort out maintenance schedules, fire alarm testing procedures and all sorts of technical stuff, marking up all of the many door keys (27 keys in triplicate) producing a fire exit plan (I am going to produce an emergency exit video as well to be shown when the building is being used by the public -might have to find someone posh to do a voice over though :-))

CB

Farewell Duncan

Duncan Duff is the man who built our building. And we couldn't have asked for better. From day one he has been courteous, efficient and proud of his work. And the end result is a building that is fit for a king.

Duncan will be handing the building over our building committee tomorrow evening at 5:30. After that its our baby.

The handover procedure is quite straight forward. Duncan will show us around the building explaining where everything is, light switches, fire alarm controls, heating, ventilation and those fancy remote control velux windows. Everything from where the stop vales are to which fuse is which in the distribution board is documented in a manual so if we get stuck we will have a book to guide us (kind of like Christianity I suppose).

Dave and Mick will be 'Facilities Managers' working alongside myself in the future to ensure the building is maintained, legally compliant and secure, so it is important that Dave, Mick and I fully understand the workings of the building because if anything happens, say a bus runs into the side of it we will need to know where to switch the gas off.

On 5th September the building will become a public building. We need in the next 6 weeks to satisfy building control that all the fire doors operate, the fire alarm works, fire risk assessment is complete etc. Its a lot to get our heads around.

At our deacons meeting last night Mick and Dave were rubber stamped for their new roles and Sue Wolstenholme and Joan Heap were assigned roles within the administration function. Both Admin and Facilities teams will work closely with myself to ensure smooth running of the back office functions of the new building.

A cleaning crew has also been approved and these people will also play a vital role in maintaining the cleanliness of the building. A cleaning rota will be established so that we are always spick and span.

In addition a welcome team has been formed. This is a vital role which will enable us to ensure that we make sure new people are made to feel at home and that they can be properly integrated into our church - there isnothing worse than going into a church and not being made welcome.

CB

Thank You

I showed the video 'Thank You' at church this morning and it seems to have gone down well with many positive comments about the new building.

The next few weeks will be quite busy for the team as our own tradesmen come in and finish their work. As new rooms become available we will be 'shaking down' the various facilities. For example the kitchen. Once that's in we will put it through its paces, make sure it all works and everyone knows where everything they need is.

CB

One small step for man.....one giant leap for the church

Ok so we haven't put a man on the moon but we have done something equally as alien and it suddenly dawned on me yesterday. WE HAVE BUILT A CHURCH !!

Its extraordinary to think that in a time when church attendances are falling that we should be not only growing but growing to the point that we need a place with double the capacity that we have now.

I was asked on Sunday whether or not I thought that our building looked like a church. Absolutely totally not was my reply! Deep in the Psyche of British minds is the memory of millions of people being frog marched by their school into a musky old building with wooden pews being asked to chant things they didn't understand

Our church no matter who has been in believer or otherwise is perceived as a warm user friendly and impressive building. It certainly doesn't look like most peoples idea of church but its the people inside that are the true church, not a building.

The balance of the flooring will be finished today. Yesterday the wooden fences were installed to complete the enclosure of 'Barbeque Deck'

CB

What a difference a day makes (24 little hours)

I went on site this morning and even the usually unflappable Duncan was running around like a headless chicken and no wonder given the activity on site. The aggregate for the car park has been laid, the tarmac will probably follow on Monday. Meanwhile Duncans men are finishing the iron mongery and decorating whilst the ground crew tackle the last bits of finishing including the gates and a couple of drain pipes.

Inside the worship room floor is down and looks stunning - it looks like we have real wood down and certainly makes the room look fit for a King which of course it should be !

The office is the first room to officially be considered complete. Again it looks lovely. We opted for a blue / grey carpet to complement the light cream walls. I shall speak to my office supplier this week to kit that out, the computer for the office is on test at my house at the minute too.

The kitchen floor is down, the gas is in and the sink is propped up against the back wall just waiting for the units to be fitted.

Ibbotsons plan to complete internal works by 15:30 today after which the flooring company can finish their side tomorrow which will be the stairs, foyer, corridor and baptistery cover.

On Sunday I plan on showing a video of the building to the church although I need to shoot it first :-) I will release it on the blog hopefully on Saturday evening

Next week the ground works will be completed, manuals presented and we will be legally in charge of our building. (Gulp!)

CB

07:59

Getting ready for work this morning my mobile rang.

"Chris it's Michelle. Can you go on site and approve the floor covering upstairs ?"

So off I went to site avoiding the digger which was mincing the ground for the tarmac to be laid to inspect the floor. It looks fantastic ! The guys installing it were really proud of their work and its clear that they want to do a good job for us. The floor covering will now be covered in cardboard to protect it whilst the rest of the work is done.



Dave is going on site today with another decorator to get a quote for finishing the paint work up there and Mick is now back so he will be on with sorting the fire doors out.

I'm going back on site tomorrow to inspect the floor covering in the worship area which is being laid today. There are a couple of solutions that need to be addressed regarding the baptistery which will be sorted in the morning as well but once that is done the worship room is more or less done, the tiling in the baptistry will be completed after handover as will the installation of the projector and the citing of the chairs (which will finally leave their Manchester warehouse home next week !)

Top soil has been placed around the perimeter of the building which is one of the key jobs which needed doing before the fences come down. The concrete ramp at the front door is needed before the fence can be completely removed from the front elevation and the gate needs to be put on the side before the John Street elevation fencing can be removed. But we are a step closer !

CB

Insurance upon Insurance upon Insurance

We have today started to insure the building under our name. The reason for this is that we may be required to access the site later in the week to start work on finishing off items that are under our control.

The building remains in the legal charge of the builders until such time as it is handed over so that site is also covered under the builders policy until they leave.

On top of that the flooring contractor has negotiated entry onto the site to get on with their side of things and have entered into an agreement whereby they undertake to cover their work on their insurance policy until such time as the builders hand the building over to us.

With me so far ?

The builders require access to certain areas this week so as the floor is laid some areas will be out of bounds and other areas will be covered in card board to protect the floor that has been put down.

Dave has arranged a meeting on site with a decorator to complete the painting of 'the loft' as Ive affectionately called upstairs.

Duncan is fitting the gates at the rear of the building enclosing the 'barbeque deck' (yep, another one of my names) aka the outside paved area! Skips will be on hand all week to clear the inevitable refuse waste that has accumilated, bricks, plastic, wood, damaged or incorrectly built window frames, piping - you name it. Once this is away, top soil, gravel and tarmac will be laid although this is likely to be done next week.

Glad I'm at work this week and not under the feet of those working so hard to finish the building off. It's going to be like a crazy place in there this week. Hopefully by the end of the week we will be much closer to finishing.

CB

No swimming !

Duncan is extremely proud of the new baptistery. When I was in there the other day he insisted that I try it out for size although I resisted the urge to dunk myself in water that wasn't there but alas I got in and am now 'baptistery trained'.

I decided this morning to go past the building on the was to work and my left arm instinctively dragged the steering wheel around and pointed the car in the direction of the church entrance. The reason for such a knee jerk reaction is that I remembered that the water was switched on yesterday. I was keen to make sure that everything was OK.

Duncan informed me that there were three small leaks in the system although these were deemed 'teething troubles' - I must confess to being relieved that I didn't walk into a swimming pool this morning !

Next week is snag week. Our architect was on site yesterday and has drawn up a list of items the builders need to complete before the building can be handed over. Minor items of trim and finish mainly. The fences will be put up on the back and the ground works for the car park started.

The 'latex screed' will be applied to all areas of flooring before our fancy new floor can be installed. The kitchen will follow in late July / early August.

CB

Silent Movie - Don't adjust your speakers :-)

Father's day

I am unusually off work today. I have been seconded for 'family duties'. Oliver is off to the hospital to have gromits put in his ears and I have to step in and watch Jessica sing at the school choir concert. With a gaps in the schedule I decided to go and take a look around the building to see how things were progressing. And progressing they are !

The portacabin which was first sited back in September of last year is being freed from its temporary enclosure today. Tomorrow the water supply will be switched on and early next week the ground works will be completed.

Duncan was keen to show me the fancy Velux roof windows that have been put in. I have to say they are very impressive if you are anything like me and enjoy gadgets. Two remote controls are supplied. They open vents, open the windows themselves and shut the blinds.

Somehow the main hall looks even bigger than it did before it was painted. There was certainly no need to turn the lights on becuase it was so bright in there with just the nattural light flooding the room. It was hot too the building is so well insulated it just retains the heat, but that said, there are plenty of doors and windows to open if need be.

The stairs for the baptistry and now in and its read to be tiled now. I stepped down into it and can confirm that we can definately dunk 6 footers in there without the risk of concusion ! The bathrooms are all but done. The gents is a bit snug but I dont reckon its going to be the busiest part of the church.

Upstairs the quirky angles of the room give it a really 'loft like' feel. Its huge up there and like down stairs thanks to the incredible insulations its really warm !

CB

'Lights (no) camera, Action !!'

Driving past the building yesterday the lights were on in the main hall for the first time. It was as if the building had suddenly come to life. From what I could see there was a very good amount of illumination in the main hall. We have fortunately invested in a new much more powerful projector which will be fixed into position and will project a powerful, colourful image onto a purpose built projector screen on the John Street elevation. It should be almost movie standard !

We have received a number of grants for kitchen items which will enable us to fit the kitchen to a very high standard - a six ring gas cooker, bespoke kitchen cupboards and other mod cons. It will be more than capable of meeting our needs.

The flooring company are poised to install the flooring - they are in touch directly with the builders and Ive advised them of the order in which to install the floor to fit in with other contractors.

We have a meeting on Thursday to run through the finances. Its tight but we have achieved far more than we had originally anticipated - but really God was never going to leave us short was he !

CB