Lydia House, 140 Cowick Street is the address of our new church ‘hub’, and we look forward to moving our staff team and many of our group activities into this new, more flexible space.   We are hugely grateful to all who have given to our ‘building fund’ over the years and want to thank the Property team and Trustees for all the hard work in assessing the building, planning for the future and ensuring that the purchase was a success.

Explore the virtual walkthrough below to see how it looked when we first bought it.
Scroll further down the page for updates from Scott and the refurbishment team.

 

First, view full-screen by clicking on the right of the photo below.

In full-screen mode, click on the icon to see the floor plan.
Click on the white squares to navigate between rooms…

Photo credits – Steve Gingell

Refurbishment Update

If you have time available to help on a Monday (pm/evening) or Friday (am/pm), please let us know your availability on the Lydia House Refurbishment Form.

 

 

Feb 21st 2023

Latest update and photos from the hardworking volunteer team…

 

“Just a small hole to fill”, they said…
Phil Butcher holding up a mirror in a freshly painted room
“Does my bum look big in this?”
“You missed a bit, Ann..”
Base coat ‘Butchered’

Another busy week of filling, painting and making good.   This week also sees the installation of a new boiler and pipework to help us zone the heating, preparation for down-lights, a new sink plumbed-in, removal of doors for dipping and stripping, colour scheme and carpet selection.

 

 

 

 

 

Feb 15th

Well, they say you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs…

A big thank you to Scott, and to the volunteers who have stripped, filled and sanded walls, removed rubble, removed window bars, researched colour schemes, restored electrical circuits and fitted new sockets.   Special shout-out to the Daytime Community Group, all the encouragers on the ‘Team Renovation’ WhatsApp group, including ever-ready James Kimber, sage architect Dave Lambert, mood-board custodian Mel Oxlade and resident sparky, Tim Goode.

The planned work is progressing well – and has led to one or two unplanned tasks – replacing the boiler with a more efficient version (current one was condemned on carbon monoxide flue emissions), and some significant rewiring work to ensure that our office sockets are on the ring main, rather than the mix of spurs and radials which have been uncovered.

Upcoming tasks – more filling and sanding, preparing the ceilings for downlights, fitting a new stud wall to make the staff toilet less, um, ‘open plan’. (For any Bible-scholars out there, we are calling this the Nehemiah 3:13 task.)

If you have time available to help on a Monday (pm/evening) or Friday (am/pm), please let us know your availability on the Lydia House Refurbishment Form.

 

(click images to enlarge)

Paul and Ann at work in the main staff office; wall removed to create a temporary 'fellowship toilet' layout.
Paul and Ann at work in the main staff office; wall removed to create a temporary ‘fellowship toilet’ layout.

 

Floorboards up for some major rewiring action...
Floorboards up for some major rewiring action…

 

Front office - fully stripped and filled.
Front office – fully stripped and filled.

 

New sockets - now on the ring main, expertly fitted by Tim Goode
New sockets – now on the ring main, expertly fitted by Tim Goode