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Over the period of the re-ordering of our church building we will use this page to try and keep you up to date with what is happening in the building and how the work is progressing. The final archaeological findings (for now) can be found by clicking here.

The Floor

At last the floor slabs are going down; after layers of dolomite, concrete, insulation, heating pipes and scree we have finally arrived at the ground level for the next few decades. The builders have started in the lady chapel laying the natural stone slabs that will make up a hard wearing, attractive floor for the building.

The work on the rest of the lady chapel continues apace, the plaster has been completely renewed as can be seen in the image above; the partition wall has the plywood sheeting fitted prior to the finishing layer and the heating has been laid on the mezannine above as well as under the chapel floor below. No more cold feet in there.

On Saturday 26th July, there will be an 'All Hands on Deck' clean up day in the church to prepare it for use the following week. The work will not be finished, there will be some work to be done on the sound system and lighting, but to all intents and purposes the building work will be finished.
Please come along and help with the clean up and be among the first people to see the building in all it's new splendour work will be starting at 9.00am and continuing for most of the day, even if you can only come along for a couple of hours, please come, you will be most welcome. Contact Mrs Jean Henderson for more details, 0191 584 1967.

The Lady Chapel

Our much loved St Michael's had many wonderful features, but was laid out in an era when children were seen, but not heard or else the laying on of hands would swiftly follow. So in these more child friendly times, the creche at the rear of church could be a distraction for the average CofE regular who naturally sat at the back of church in their seat. Our re-ordered building will have class/meeting room in the old Lady Chapel with glass walls and full facilities for young children allowing them to see, but not be heard once again.

Sited under the new heritage centre this room will also allow for small meetings and services in warmth and comfort. The warmth doesn't stop in the side room, even the mezannine floor in the heritage centre has underfloor heating!

According to the latest estimates, the building work is on schedule or even slightly ahead of schedule so we are hoping to be back in the building in early September. Of course when we have the slightest hint of a date you can expect to see it here on the web site in letters 3 inches high; we live in interesting times.

The Heating System

The underfloor heating system is one of the key elements to the re-ordering. Since the early 1800's there have been several attempts to keep the congregation warm in a building that was not designed with thermal insulation high on the agenda.

A thin layer of concrete screed has been laid over the heating pipes to form a level surface for the final floor covering of natural stone. At the time of writing (26th May) the screed is still too soft to walk on so images are restricted to the view from the vestry door.

A system of heating pipes, sat on top of insulated sheeting has started to advance down the knave. The image below shows the thickness of insulation below the heating pipes, again raising the floor level even closer to the pre-archaeology levels. The water feed pipes for this heating system, coming from the existing boiler house, can be seen in the image as well.