Ruskin Lane Consulting Autumn 2013 | Page 18

EVENTS REPORTS Venice skyline. Image © Scott Wham the delegates leave the event with a sense of excitement and determination to keep the discussions going in their home countries, which should be of great value to all of us.” The conference was attended by John Gerrard on behalf of the CBRT and by Scott Wham on behalf of the Trust and the University of Strathclyde. The CBRT has joined the FRH network and will continue to work closely with the organisation through the development of materials and sharing of case studies and information. As part of his Masters thesis, Scott produced a guidebook for congregations entitled ‘A Church for the Future’, which provides a general introduction to the issues affecting church buildings and highlights a number of strategies and case studies. This was presented to the conference as a Scottish perspective of the subject. Scott Wham, Church Buildings Renewal Trust Church Building Renewal Trust Annual Conference Friday 17th May 2013 | Stirling Baptist Church he Church Buildings Renewal Trust held its annual conference in Stirling Baptist Church under the title of ‘Church and the Community: Energy’. Roger Curtis of Historic Scotland began the morning session with a look at energy efficiency in church buildings. This was followed by an informative presentation on the merits of LED lighting by Natalie Redford of Edinburgh based lighting consultancy Light Bureau. Thereafter, Andrew MacOwan, the heating consultant for the Church of Scotland, led a discussion on practical energy solutions. The morning session was concluded by John Gerrard and Scott Wham who delivered a report on the conference of the newly formed European organisation, Future for Religious Heritage, which they attended on behalf of the Trust last November in Venice. In the afternoon session Rebecca Cadie of ARPL architects gave a presentation on the low tech approach to heating churches. The two sessions were chaired by Brian Park and John Hume respectively. These presentations were complimented by two case studies, the first by Mike Adam of Stirling St. Ninians Church of Scotland, who T 18 I THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND I SPRING 2013 presented his congregation’s recent hall upgrade project which was funded by a 70% grant from the Climate Challenge Fund and CARES amongst others. Their efforts, which included the installation of air source heat pumps and insulation, had helped to achieve an impressive 67% reduction in heating costs for their C listed hall building. This was followed by a very inspiring talk by the Rev. Chris MacRae, from Kilmallie Free Church in Caol near Fort William, on their rebuild project. Their original building, dating from 1961, was in desperate need of refurbishment and it proved more cost effective for the congregation to demolish and construct a new efficient church community centre than to upgrade the existing building. The day provided much opportunity for discussion and was enjoyed by professionals and congregations alike. The Trust launched their website, www.cbrt.org.uk, which they hope will become a useful online resource. They would welcome the submission of any case studies or other material for inclusion on the website which can be emailed to [email protected]. Copies of all the conference presentations are available to download. Please visit the website for news of future conferences and events. Scott Wham, Church Building Renewal Trust