Project 21

With so many congregations on the retreat, Bank of Scotland helped one ambitious church with a project costing over £6m to double its capacity.

At a time when much of the news about organised religion in this country seems to focus so often on church closures and shrinking congregations, one Edinburgh church is attracting international attention for doing the opposite.

St Paul's and St George's Episcopal Church has just completed its ambitious "Project 21" - the culmination of a dedicated 10-year mission to double the church's capacity to 800 at a cost in excess of £6m.

Launched formally on the church's 21st birthday, it has become a beacon for religious establishments all over the world as a way to reinvent itself and widen its reach.

"We needed more meeting space," says Richards, "particularly for work with children, so that meant building a three-storey extension in place of our old church hall."

It was back in 1999 that St Paul's and St George's, already one of the UK's largest churches, realised they'd just become too small. Rector Dave Richards recalls that they were regularly squashing in a congregation of 400 at each of their two main services.

Drastic change was needed to fulfil the congregation's hopes for further growth. "The building was working against us," he explains. "It simply wasn't big enough, and there were problems with lighting, sound, seating and other areas." They considered moving, swapping buildings, or even developing a greenfield site.

Ultimately, they settled on expanding the existing church and Project 21 was born. Working with Lee Boyd Architects, they planned a building which didn't just double the capacity to 800 but also provided a distinctive glass welcome space' at the entrance plus more flexible, multi-purpose gathering areas.

The most pressing challenge, though, was raising the money for the renovation. "Except for one £25,000 grant, the money has come from church members, who have given more than £5m over four years - and that's still growing!

"The way we did it was that we taught on money in our Sunday services and then had a three-month consultation involving a couple of dozen small group meetings with members of the congregation. We talked about our vision, what people were excited about - and fearful of."

With that buy-in from the congregation, they organised two Pledge Days. The first, in November 2004, pledged to raise £2.4m. Two years later, a second pledged £2.3m.

With sums on that scale, they involved Bank of Scotland early in the project. Emma Vardy, Manager of Project 21, says that, despite the huge amount of pledged funding, it was inevitable that there would be temporary shortfalls as the project progressed - and costs rose!

"We've been renovating a Grade A building," she explains, "so it's been a difficult job with many challenges along the way.

The Bank made up our funding shortfall, in the region of £1m while we were still raising money from our congregation." Richards adds: "And they stuck with us through significant delays, when we were seeking planning permission from Historic Scotland to get the refurbishments done."

With Project 21 complete, the new church opened last August. And the reaction, says Richards, has been extremely positive. "We've had a lot of interest from churches all over the world. Most recently, a speaker visiting from the US said we're now a model of how to do this, because of the sheer impact it's had."

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