Last year the Kings Road Church celebrated it’s 150 year anniversary of serving the needs of the Berkhamsted community. We now look forward to the next generations.
WHY A NEW BUILDING
Frequently Asked Questions
The Kings Road Church (KRC), established in 1874 and further developed in Berkhamsted in 1969, is a thriving and growing church, with a congregation from a wide variety of backgrounds. It is ethnically and economically diverse, with an age range from under 1 year to 90 years old. Many members are based in Berkhamsted but some travel in from surrounding areas. Some have been worshipping at KRC for over 50 years, and some are much newer and have been attending for just a few weeks.
KRC has been led by Rob and Sue since 2021, with the size of the congregation increasing to over 100 adults and children since they began. They are very confident of continued growth with a particular focus on children and young people to enhance and increase the next generation of families. This will continue to strengthen and expand the reach and message of the church over time into the future.
Rob and Sue are committed to reflecting their faith and love in their devotion to the KRC congregation and to the wider community.
What is Kings Road Church?
KRC is a Christian church and worships and teaches the scriptures and beliefs of the Christian faith. Their primary service is on a Sunday morning in Berkhamsted.
What is the faith of the church?
Members of KRC refer to themselves as a family, and each and every person is unique, of value and the most precious church resource.
There are many regular weekly connections outside the Sunday morning service, including homegroups, toddler groups, exercise classes, running clubs, regular social events for the men, the women and the church as a whole, including curry nights, breakfasts and other social events.
Many people attending KRC have enjoyed flourishing friendships and connections that have stood the test-of-time. These relationships have had a hugely positive impact on individuals and families and have boosted the wellbeing and mental health of those in greatest need of support.
KRC has experienced and accomplished groups involved in the running of the church including pastors, leadership team, admin assistants, trustees, homegroup leaders, a children’s work team, a worship team, a toddlers team, a foodbank team, a women’s ministry, a men’s ministry and more. These teams meet on a regular basis and there is a whole church meeting every term.
What happens at KRC?
Just some of the initiatives already established within the church, and core to its commitment to supporting and cherishing its surrounding community are:
Sustenance
A Foodbank that has given away almost £25K’s worth of food in the last two years
A Village
A toddler group which has run onsite for over 40 years and is well into the second generation of parents.
Family
Decades of providing groups, activities and summer camps for children and young people
Love and Respect
‘Divorce Care’, a ministry that provides courses for those experiencing marriage breakdown. This has run for many years and has been successful in easing, what can be, a difficult time for many.
The KRC site is at the heart of Berkhamsted town centre, sitting just above the crossroads. The existing building, originally christened as Hope Hall, was erected in 1874 as a place of worship for the Plymouth Brethren. Since then, a significant reconstruction effort in 1969 brought about its transformation, and it continued to serve as a place of Christian worship until approximately 2010.
In order to serve the congregation, the Sunday service has now moved to a local school, due to the limited and outdated original building that is simply not fit-for-purpose.
The building is still being used regularly by us outside of our Sunday morning meetings, many of our community activities, toddlers and subsidised exercise classes run from the building. The last Christmas Day service ran at the building where about 120 people were squeezed in there plus 2 dogs! However they had to hire the Civic Centre for the main carol service to accommodate numbers.
Where is KRC?
Aside from its limited size and issues with layout, the current outdated building is suffering chronic damp, excessive heat loss and other issues that cannot be fixed with an ‘update’ or renovation.
It has been impossible to run children’s groups and other meetings in the building, so other spaces have been rented in the interim. This has placed considerable restrictions on community projects and has increased the need for the community hub that KRC could bring to a central Berkhamsted location.
A new fully accessible building will create a centre or hub for well-being and improve care and support for those most vulnerable while creating a link between the church and the community of Berkhamsted. This synergy with the space and the community will enhance the quality of life of the people of Berkhamsted for generations to come.
Why do you need a new building?
The new building will be paid for from donations, regular member giving, promises of giving if permissions are granted and potentially a mortgage if needed.
Who is paying for it?
The design of the building has been undertaken with great care, research and passion and has been designed with low energy, economic and ecological features in mind. All of this in keeping with the ethos of sustainability and longevity in mind, including:
Green roofs that provide a high quality, robust and long-life solution whilst creating a low visibility impact from distance views. Green roofs have many benefits at ecological, and societal levels.
The proposed ground floor is glazed on the southern end, providing a ‘shop window’ to the café and community events from the Kings Road approach. There is a reduced overall number and location for windows facing the street to ensure minimal lighting overspill as well as mitigating any potential noise impacts and overlooking. Reducing the amount of glazing will also assist in providing a minimal heat loss. The design incorporates a parapet where solar panels will be discreetly positioned and barely visible. These panels will assist in futureproofing the churches future energy and carbon costs.
A proposal that the ground floor and southern gable external walls of the building will be constructed from local waste streams of brick and stone. This tradition is predominantly found in the Sussex counties but provides a good transferable example of how local low value waste can, with skilled craft and modern innovation, be used to create beautiful low-carbon contemporary buildings.
The high-level walls will be dotted with bat and swift roosts in line with the Bat Conservation Trust guidelines for providing habitats for local flora and fauna within new building construction.
Despite the urban location, the building is designed to increase plants and wildlife in the direct vicinity.
Façade details are currently under development in collaboration with the Dacorum conservation and design team. During technical design stages these details will undergo a standard review process for further approval before construction commences.
The building height has been substantially reduced following community consultation. The main street facade is now lower than the eaves of the domestic terraced houses opposite.
The site lies close to Berkhamsted Town Centre and as a result, there are examples of non-conforming land uses – Kings Road Garage, the church itself, Kings Road Dentists and Berkhamsted School to the south. There are examples of larger buildings in the immediate vicinity like the residential development constructed on the former site of the library and police station. As such it is considered that there is scope for a building larger than that currently on site.
The architect’s Design and Access Statement illustrates that the building’s final form isn’t rigid or inflexible, but rather shaped to address concerns about daylighting affecting neighbouring structures. Extensive daylighting studies were conducted, leading to the creation of a ‘safe’ zone, shaping the building profile in a non-traditional manner. Effective contemporary architecture arises from contextual responsiveness.
Can’t the structure be more historic or church-like in appearance?
KRC instructed Kirkland Fraser Moor, a local award-winning architecture firm, to design the new building. Kirkland Fraser Moor (award winning- RIBA building of the year 2023 and nominated for best regional architect of the year) is a highly respected and innovative company with a rich history of successful Hertfordshire projects that have brought positive improvements to families and businesses in Berkhamsted and beyond. Their commitment to improving the lives of the Berkhamsted community put them in the best position to understand the drive for not only a new church but a community space that serves the town and beyond for generations to come.
Who has designed the new building?
Initial doorstep discussions were undertaken with immediate residents of the site. Residents were invited to meetings and exhibitions to discuss the plans and meet the architects to ensure any questions and concerns could be raised. KRC is committed to working alongside residents and the community on this project. They were also informed when it went to planning and offers to visit personally to the more house bound were made and followed through. Berkhamsted town councilors have also been invited to come and discuss wider community and social service needs and concerns the new facility will assist with. This feedback has been instrumental in the ongoing design development.
What has been done to engage with the local residents and community ahead of the planning application.
The church has grown considerably in the past two years and is continuing to do so. In order to accommodate the congregation, provide a secure area for the children, create a space for the offices and admin and include a community area, the size and layout shown on the plans is necessary.
Reducing impact on the overall conservation area as well as the immediate surrounding properties has been at the forefront of the design development process. Reviving this sensitive site requires architectural innovation which in turn has driven the final internal and external building design.
Why does the new building need to be so big?
Why have yet another café?
The café is there to principally serve the users of the building including the many groups who will convene there. It may be open to the public some of the time, but its aim is very different to a commercial café, as it will be used as a community space rather than being for profit.
This is of particular concern to the immediate locality, and KRC would be supportive of a residents’ parking scheme. The church will have three disabled parking bays, is within easy walking distance of the multistorey and Wilderness car parks, and has agreement with local businesses to access other parking venues. About 30% of the current congregation are within walking distance of central Berkhamsted and KRC will encourage and support walking, cycling and public transport groups to decrease in the potential traffic to and from the site.
What about parking for the increased numbers?
What about the build? How will the building disruption be mitigated for residents and the community?
The build has been carefully thought through over two years to ensure minimal disruption to residents and the town. Many parts of the new building will be built offsite (modular) and noise and traffic will be kept to an absolute minimum. No build is without some disruption but KRC is committed to minimising it for the benefit of everyone.
The KRC site is in the heart of Berkhamsted where there is high footfall in a growing, vibrant and thriving town. That said, it is apparent that our society in 2024 is creating higher levels of stress, anxiety and loneliness despite the relative affluence of the town and surrounding villages. True connection and healing from the challenges of day-to-day life can only happen in a community and only truly happens with personal connections and support. The new building will not only provide a spiritual sanctuary for members but also a home for many other community initiatives and programmes designed with these issues in mind.
If KRC was placed further out of town, there would be an increased dependence on cars, could limit access for those dependent on public transport and would again restrict the community projects and support that will be on offer.
Why not build elsewhere?
The KRC site is in the heart of Berkhamsted where there is high footfall in a growing, vibrant and thriving town. That said, it is apparent that our society in 2024 is creating higher levels of stress, anxiety and loneliness despite the relative affluence of the town and surrounding villages. True connection and healing from the challenges of day-to-day life can only happen in a community and only truly happens with personal connections and support. The new building will not only provide a spiritual sanctuary for members but also a home for many other community initiatives and programmes designed with these issues in mind.
‘The House of Good – The Economic & Social Value of Church Buildings in the UK’ Report identified that UK Churches create
a wellbeing value of £52.6 billion/year to local communities through volunteering, attendance and individual benefits.
£1.4 billion/year is created from the ‘running, staffing and hiring out of church buildings.’
The replacement cost of community services (‘foodbanks, youth groups, mental health services’) is £206 million/year.
Volunteering at Churches has a UK replacement cost of £839 million.