Growing Together Building Project
Introducing ‘Growing Together’
Why are we building a new hall at St Peter’s Watford?
Two years ago, God gave us an incredible and ambitious vision, to build a church centre, a new church hall and to create a community hub. Our prayerful plan is to knock down the existing church hall and to build a new church centre and church hall on the land; and to fund half of the project by selling some of the land the hall is currently built on which has planning permission for two family homes.
Our current church hall has served us and the community well, but it no longer meets the growing needs of our congregation or the community we serve. The hall is over 90 years old and although we have looked after it well, it is now no longer fit for purpose and needs updating. Our project to demolish and rebuild will impact minimally on the exisiting church building, but we will join the two buildings so that the spaces work alongside and in harmony with each other.
An architect’s drawing of what the new church centre will look like.
Rebuilding St Peter’s church hall and minimally reordering the interior of the church will create new facilities to provide a welcoming and accessible space for the church and community activities.
The new church centre/community hub will be connected to the church and will provide the church and community with a large space for hosting events and groups, along with a foyer, which will double as a café area, office space and three first floor meeting rooms. Plus, a fully equipped kitchen, toilets including an accessible toilet and offices.
The new glazed entrance will provide a welcoming, open-plan reception area. The new configuration will include a new fully functioning kitchen and servery, meaning we can offer hospitality with ease, and the hall and rooms will be a more attractive option for hire.
The new church centre will also have a range of room sizes for small and large community groups and private meetings. This new church centre and minimal reordering of the church interior will mean we can work on site, widen our offer to our community, increase our bookings and improve our sustainability.
We have secured planning permission from the local council, and approval from the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC), which provides the necessary approvals from the Church of England for the work.
Site cross section of the new hall and the housing behind.
“Building a community”
“Serving local needs”
“Providing a legacy for future generations”
“I’m delighted to commend this wonderful project at St Peter’s, Watford. The church is looking to provide a renewed facility that will deliver much-needed community space that will be an asset to residents and groups in the neighbourhood, as well as enabling them to continue to serve the area. I know that any support for this project will deliver a real local impact.”
— Peter Taylor, Elected Mayor of Watford
A render of the new church foyer and hall.
Giving to the project
The total fundraising budget for the church centre and new hall is £1,085,000. With the help of the community and many other generous donations, we are making good progress towards our goal. Are you able to give to help us reach our target?
If you would like to give towards our Growing Together project please follow this churchsuite donation link and select the Growing Together fund option. You can give via card or direct debit.
If you would like to make a grant or legacy donation to the project, please contact us here.
Another really easy way you can help us raise money for our Growing Together building project is by signing up to Easy Fundraising. All you need to do is set up an account following this link: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/support-a.../step-1/... Every time you purchase something online, if you go via the Easy Fundraising website or app you will be able to raise funds for St Peter's at no extra cost to you! There are thousands of retailers linked to the scheme, including, Amazon, Ebay, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda to name a few.
