daedalus conservation appointed main contractor for renovation of grade 1 church
Earlier this year Daedalus Conservation was appointed the main contractor to carry out extensive renovation and redevelopment of the Grade 1 listed All Saints Church in Kingston upon Thames.
When complete, the development project will transform All Saints Church into a revitalised centre for heritage and community at the heart of Kingston. A new heritage and interpretation room will for the first time tell visitors the full story of this historic site, from the crowning of Saxon Kings in the tenth century through to the present day. Access to the church will be made easier and the floor levelled. And the interior of the church will be completely refurbished, with new lighting, heating and facilities including toilets and a refreshment bar, to make it more attractive both to visitors and to the thousands of local residents who use it as a place of worship, a concert hall, or just a place to relax and reflect away from the hurly burly of the town centre.
In the first phase of work, which is supported by grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Mayor of London’s Outer London Fund, ASK will create two entrances on the North side of the church, facing Clarence Street. One of these doors will be made by reopening the North-West porch, currently used as a boiler room; the other will recreate an entrance which has not been used since the early nineteenth century. The choir vestry will be completely refurbished so that it can also serve as the heritage and interpretation room, and new toilets will be installed in the North-West porch.
In the second phase of work, which will start later in the year if sufficient funds can be raised, ASK will reorder and redecorate the interior of the church, level the floors, and install new heating and lighting and a refreshment bar. The £2m “Angels” fundraising campaign launched by Angellica Bell in November, which takes its inspiration from the wooden angels in the church roof, is designed to raise the money necessary to allow ASK to proceed with this second phase of the project.