Heritage contractor DBR restores much-loved Victorian church to its former glory
DBR Ltd, one of the UK’s leading heritage construction contractors, recently completed a project to restore St. Leonard’s Church in Hove, East Sussex.
Designed by renowned architect Richard Herbert Carpenter and built on the ruins of a 13th-century chapel, by 2024 the Grade-II listed building was in urgent need of repair and renovation.
After seeing the extent of the work required to return the church to its former glory, its owners, the Diocese of Chichester, realised they needed the knowledge and expertise of a contractor specialising in places of worship.
Fortunately, locally-based DBR Southern (DBR) came to the rescue. With over 30 years’ experience in church conservation, working on numerous historic buildings in Sussex and across Southern England, including the pioneering relocation of Brighton Hospital’s 3Ts Chapel, its reputation preceded it.
Appointed as principal contractor, work on site commenced in August 2022, with a complete refresh of the church’s external fabric. The project involved crucial roof and masonry repairs, re-plastering of interior surfaces, installation of new internal glazed screens as well as toilet and kitchen facilities. It also included the addition of a new brick and bespoke timber-framed porch on the west-facing façade.
That was only the start of what would become a far-reaching project. Next, DBR overhauled the entirety of St Leonard’s M&E services. This stage of the operation required extreme care, ensuring absolutely no damage was done to the building’s superstructure. This meant the M&E team had to work with the lightest touch, laying underfloor heating, air source heat pumps, and lighting rigs as well as installing plumbing and wiring for new sanitary, kitchen, and drainage facilities.
The work didn’t stop there. Other tasks undertaken by the team comprised the affixing of a replacement guttering system, creating a new path up to the church’s entrance, and even the implementation of separation screens in various areas of the church. This improvement to the functionality of the space allows multiple groups to simultaneously use the community space.
The project was not without challenges, particularly when the team unexpectedly discovered an ancient underground boiler when replacing the site’s HVAC. It required delicate navigation of the church’s substructure during installation of new utilities, to avoid compromising its structural stability. This is where DBR’s wealth of experience of working within archaeological sites proved invaluable.
As Jack Herniman, who led the St Leonard’s team, said, “Our unrivalled problem-solving abilities and variety of skills were perfectly showcased in this project. First, our assistance in securing planning consent, a task requiring almost super-human levels of patience and thoroughness, established essential trust from the client, and their confidence in our ability. Second, the implementation of a new HVAC system in tricky circumstances demonstrated our agility and quick-thinking when confronted with a surprising situation, to develop a workable solution.”
The final stage of the project was the construction of a new porch. Comprising a glulam frame, oak screen panelling, and fronted with expansive double-leaf doors, it was built by DBR’s own master craftspeople. Importantly, it highlighted the contractor’s breadth of talent and preference for using green construction materials.
In fact, sustainability ran through every stage of the project. With the client keen to keep emissions as low as possible, DBR ensured that every product specified was as carbon-neutral as possible. A good example of this was the recommendation to use the aforementioned heat pumps and more insulation, as opposed to a gas boiler. Leaving no stone unturned, the team also embraced circular economic principles. Original pews from the church were adapted by DBR conservation joiners to become the bespoke fronts to the new kitchenette space and accessible toilets.
Social wellbeing was also at the heart of the brief, and DBR went the extra mile to ensure the space would be one that the local community would use, and benefit from, beyond worship. The M&E team also installed new AV and entertainment systems in order to adaptively reuse the church to be used as both a large-scale entertainment space in addition to its traditional role.
Ultimately, St. Leonard’s represents one of the widest-ranging demonstrations of DBR’s end-to-end expertise.
Work completed in spring 2023, ushering in a new age of serving Hove residents as a destination for work, rest, and prayer.
For more information on DBR Southern’s work on churches and other religious buildings, click here.
