PROFESSIONAL ALLIANCE SPOTLIGHT
Church Restoration Group
Over the course of one year, St. Andrew’s Episcopal
Church in Fort Pierce, FL, was hit by two hurricanes and
a tropical storm. The church and its related school, St.
Andrew’s Episcopal Academy, experienced serious issues
with multiple buildings. To help manage and mitigate
damage, St. Andrew’s brought in Church Restoration Group
(CRG), a firm whose work focuses on disaster response
and preparedness for historic religious structures. At St.
Andrew’s, the severely damaged roof was quickly stabilized,
but CRG’s most immediate priority was the school building.
Matt Beahm, Facilities Consultant for the firm, explains, “It
was essential to get kids back into their classes as quickly as
possible. We were striving to return a sense of normalcy to
the lives of the children in the community.” Thanks to CRG’s
help, St. Andrew’s was the first private school in Fort Pierce
to reopen after the storm. CRG was then able to turn its
attention to finishing repairs to the stabilized roof.
Church Restoration Group has more than 25 years of
experience working with historic sacred places, and has
restored approximately 500 National Register properties.
Beahm, who has a background in disaster planning and
architecture and has worked for the firm for over ten years,
explains that what makes CRG unique is the company’s
ability to “understand the unique nature of historic
buildings and how to conduct historically sensitive work
while also fixing the problems brought on by natural
disasters.” Beahm’s skills, and those of the mitigation
managers and crews that work with CRG, are complemented
by the talents of the conservator and preservationist on staff.
Together they have the knowledge and experience necessary
to take action immediately after a disaster strikes a historic
religious structure.
One of Beahm’s talents, clearly evidenced at St. Andrew’s, is
the ability to prioritize projects after a storm. He bases his
decisions on both the level of damage and the repair costs for
each project. After Hurricane Ike hit Galveston, TX, Partners
for Sacred Places brought in CRG to help assess twelve places
of worship that were affected by the storm. Beahm’s on-
Church Restoration Group
9189 Marshall Road
Cranberry Township, PA 16066
(877) 403-8569
www.churchrestoration.com
Workers at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Academy clean
computers that were damaged by natural disasters.
Photo courtesy of Church Restoration Group.
the-ground assessments allowed congregations to rebuild
based on a list of ranked priorities, ensuring that the most
essential projects were taken care of first. Due to the nature
of hurricanes, CRG is able to estimate where they will most
likely make landfall and mobilize in advance