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A £500,000 redevelopment near the Derbyshire town of Buxton demonstrated recently how underfloor heating can be used to upgrade a historical building without ruining any of its traditional architectural features. Trinity Church on Hardwick Mount has been undergoing a renovation project designed to bring its facilities into the 21st century. The “Building for Growth” project has taken five years and raised the half-a-million sum through generous donations from friends of the church and parishioners. “The church building is quite old and the facilities we had were not really fit for purpose in 21st century Britain, so we wanted to make sure we had adequate facilities, as well as space for when the church numbers grow,” project manager Steve Short told the Buxton Advertiser newspaper. “Our members have bought into the church’s vision and donated generously and sacrificially.”
As well as an extension block, incorporating an entrance hall, a toilet block and a kitchen, more space has been created in the main church building’s seating area, which is over 138 years old, disabled access has been increased, and the whole original building has been fitted with underfloor heating in order to keep parishioners cosy while leaving all original fixtures and fittings intact. Explaining the choice of underfloor heating for the original church building, Mr Short, who attends the church himself said that “while we wanted to have a modern facility, it also had to be built onto an existing building, so that had to be done sensitively, in effect a marriage of old and new. In some senses it wasn’t a large job, but in another sense it was tricky working with such an old structure which is also situated in a conservation area.? The project really highlights one of the major benefits of underfloor heating ? its ability to be extremely unobtrusive while still being able to heat an indoor space of any size. Combined with its energy-efficient qualities, this explains why more and more designers are choosing underfloor heating for their building projects, whether they be domestic, commercial, or community projects such as Trinity Church. This particular project has taken seven months to complete and was finally completed last month, enabling the public space to be used for the Christmas celebrations, following an open day showcasing the new facilities earlier in December.
