Photos from the Blessing of the Narthex and Parish Centre with Bishop Alan, 31st May 2024
In the sections below you can see the building works from start to finish in 110 photos, and read the history of the building project, from original plans way back in 2000, through to the more recent intense planning 2020-2022, and the works commencing in April 2023.
We are very pleased to commend our Architects and Construction company. They have been a delight to work with, and the quality and sensitivity of their work speaks for itself. Their details are:
Lead Architect and Project Manager: Salvatore Genco, assisted by Rebecca Kemm, LAP Architects, Chelmsford
Contracts Manager Richard Burman and Site Manager Ian Harvey, Forest Gate Construction, Basildon
We are very grateful to generous Benefactors, who have helped towards funding the project. This includes hundreds of parishioners, along with The Albert Gubay Foundation (£200,000); The Benefact Trust (£195,000); The Garfield Weston Foundation (£30,000) and an anonymous Trust (£25,000).
To complete our £2million fundraising we need a final £300,000. To help fund the project, by regular or one-off donation, please click here. This will give you information not only for online donations, but also if you want to donate by cash, cheque, or bank transfer.
Perhaps £300,000 sounds impossible!? It is 300 people giving £1,000 – or, to put it another way, 300 people giving £20 a week for one year. Could that be you? Thank you for anything that you can give, helping our amazing church and community to develop and thrive for decades to come.
For more information about the new Parish Centre (including the Lourdes Room, seating 14-18 people, and the Walsingham Hall, seating up to 100), with information about group bookings, please click here
From April 2023 to Jan 2024 we took a lot of photos! Here’s 110 that show the building project all the way through.
The latest updates – Sunday 15th October 2023
To help fund the project, by regular or one-off donation, please click here. This will give you information not only for online donations, but also if you want to donate by cash, cheque, or bank transfer. Thank you for anything that you can give, helping our amazing church and community to develop and thrive for decades to come.
Building Works Begin – Tuesday 11th April 2023
This major project will transform the entrance to the church, giving us step-free access, and a welcoming narthex area. The project also involves a significant extension and refurbishment of the Parish Centre, with a fully refurbished hall, new toilets, a meeting room and a repository. These excellent facilities will benefit not only the parish, but the wider community of Romford.
The church will also benefit from a sacristy for altar servers, assisting us with Safeguarding requirements, as well as vastly improved space for our servers.
Finally, the whole aspect of our Grade II listed church will be much more open to one of the key gateways to Romford, enhancing our visibility and serving as a wonderful witness of the Catholic faith to the town and community we serve.
To help fund the project, by regular or one-off donation, please click here. This will give you information not only for online donations, but also if you want to donate by cash, cheque, or bank transfer. Thank you for anything that you can give, helping our amazing church and community to develop and thrive for decades to come.
For the final sets of drawings – the complete floor plan, and the elevations (how it will look, from the car park side, and the Park End Road side) – click on the three documents below. These are also on display – in large format – in the parish hall:
Please keep the whole project in prayer, as we journey through the months ahead.
For information about the journey of this project, from our original parish consultations, designs and planning application, through to works beginning in April 2023, read back over the updates from 2020 …
Revisions to the plans – 7th October 2022
After advice from the Historic Churches Committee of Brentwood Diocese, and a fresh look at the plans, the decision has been taken to move the new sacristy from the West to the North side of the building. In other words, instead of coming off the side chapel at the car park side, it will now be an extension to the side chapel behind the existing cleaning cupboard. The reason for this is that it preserves more of the original interior of the building. It is really helpful advice, and everyone wishes they had spotted it sooner! But the journey continues well, with more pieces now falling into place.
Land Sale Complete – 7th October 2022
The sale of the land next to the church is finally complete, and the money transferred to the parish. This is a very significant step forward in being able to appoint a contractor, and begin works. Thanks to those who have worked very hard to get this done, including the purchaser of the land, and our own Solicitors, Stone King, who have provided great assistance.
Planning permission received – 1st July 2022
We are delighted that planning permission has been granted; the full planning application and approvals can be found at https://development.havering.gov.uk/OcellaWeb/planningSearch. Use our postcode RM1 4AT to locate our application. Thanks to those in the planning team at Havering who have worked diligently to process our application.
MAJOR UPDATE – 12th June 2022 – FAITH IN THE FUTURE
On 12th June 2022 – Holy Trinity Sunday – there was significant news. Planning permission is just days away, the land sale is progressing, and so we are now working towards a clear timeline, with works scheduled to begin in October 2022, and complete by January 2024. Please keep it all in your prayers.
At the same time a four year fundraising campaign was launched – Faith in the Future. To complete all of the works there is a shortfall of £500,000 – the equivalent of 500 families or individuals giving £5/week until October 13th 2026, which is the Feast of St Edward the Confessor in the 170th Anniversary year of the church.
For information about how to make regular donations, or one off gifts of any size, to support the funds needed to complete the project, click here
UPDATE – March 20th 2022
Contracts were exchanged on the land adjacent to the community centre on Monday 14th March; there are now approx 12 weeks to the completion of the sale. Commercial confidentiality means we cannot disclose the sale figure prior to completion, but we have taken serious professional advice each step of the way.
The demolition of the 1950s extension to the community centre will begin on Monday 21st March, and should be completed on 14th April. This then allows the land being sold to be enclosed prior to the completion of the sale.
After some additional (relatively minor) changes from the Havering Heritage consultant, the plans for the extensions and refurbishment of the community centre and the church are now into the last few weeks of the planning application.
Hopefully all of this is good news.
The more difficult reality is that with building costs rising sharply, there will be a significant gap between the money from the land sale, and the likely costs of doing all that we hope to do. We will tackle this in the weeks ahead, with an open meeting in May to assess the priorities within the parish as we look to complete the project in stages, probably over the next three to five years. All of it is building for the future, helping us to share the Good News of Jesus Christ as a Catholic Parish at the heart of Romford – please keep it all firmly in your prayers.
UPDATE – January to March 2022
The pictures above show the new artist’s impression of the final plans submitted to Havering Council in December. These plans incorporate changes suggested by the Heritage adviser to Havering, as well as the Diocesan Historic Churches Committee. As we await the Council decision work continues:
- Preparing to carefully take down the 1950s extension to the Community Centre
- Preparing a full specification of works to be able to invite bids from contractors who are interested in the building work
- Finalizing the sale of the land adjacent to the Community Centre
As soon as there is more definite news about any aspect of this work, we will update parishioners.
UPDATE – DECEMBER 2021
After many months of careful planning, conversations with the Council and the Historic Churches Committee we have submitted our full planning application (23rd December 2021). In late November we received planning approval for the club side of the parish centre to be taken down – that work should begin in late January. To ensure we have a space for parish groups, and catechesis, we are adapting part of the parish hall, and hopefully groups can re-start in February. We are hoping to arrange a parish meeting in late spring for a fuller conversation, and will continue to provide updates every time a “milestone” is reached. If you have any immediate questions after reading the latest update please email romford@dioceseofbrentwood.org
Read more in the update given to parishioners at all Masses on 18th/19th December:
UPDATE – JUNE 2021
After the pre-application meeting with Havering Council, this update was produced for parishioners in June 2021. There is steady but slow progress, and it looks likely we will have to build in phases. Do read the update and then please send in any comments or questions to Fr Dominic, for discussion with the parish premises committee:
FIRST FULL PARISH CONSULTATION – October 17th – November 4th 2020
Every parish is, in the words of St Paul, “Living stones building a spiritual house.” We have a blessed location near to the very centre of Romford, and a precious listed building. From here, we can celebrate and share the Good News, offering wonderful service and hope to the whole community, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Right now, our buildings are in need of extension, refurbishment, care and attention; this project gives us the chance to build for the future while respecting the precious heritage that we have inherited.
The Parish Premises Committee has worked at this over many years. From the beginning of 2020 conversations began with those leading groups and Sacramental programmes in the parish hall and parish centre. The Property Committee of the Diocese of Brentwood has been a great help, as have the Historic Churches Committee.
Now comes the moment when we are delighted to share the fruits of all these conversations, and offer these preliminary versions of building and development plans for consultation with the whole parish. On this page you will find PdF versions of everything, to download to look at on your screen, or to print. There are paper copies of the whole site plan at church, as well as copies of the artists drawing at the top of this page. There will be large versions available to view in the hall (from 24th October) after weekend and Wednesday Masses, and along the walkways into St Peter’s school.
Listen here to Fr Dominic’s homily from 18th October introducing the plans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRzsxMEX8eQ
We would love as much feedback as possible – details of how to give feedback are in the FAQs document, and at the bottom of this page. Thank you for your time in offering feedback – every comment matters, and every thought will help us to get to the best possible plans.
Please send your feedback by Wednesday 4th November to romford@dioceseofbrentwood.org or post/hand in a note or letter to the presbytery at 3-5 Park End Road, Romford, RMI 4AT. Perhaps you know someone who has moved away from the parish, but who would love to hear about these developments? Please send them the link to this page.
If you are not sure what kind of feedback to give, the simplest way is to share “What I love about these plans is … ” and “The thing would change about these plans is … “
If you like everything about the plans, tell us! And if you would rip it all up and start again, tell us – and tell us why!
If you have a question about the plans or any aspect of the project that is not covered in the FAQs, please ask; the FAQs will be updated as and when new questions are asked.