At the end of August, Lizzie, Helen and Emily joined colleagues from across Scotland at the Places of Worship Forum: Planning Forward Event – a chance to share ideas, learn from experiences and talk about the future of church heritage.
The event was hosted by Built Environment Scotland (BEFS) and brought together community groups, heritage organisations and researchers to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Scotland’s places of worship. The day was designed for collaboration and honest conversation, in the fantastic space of The Pyramid at Anderston.
The day began with short talks from key projects which have already begun to tackle some of the issues of closing churches. Alongside Craig Stanford (HES), Harry Whitmore (DTAS) and our own Lizzie Swarbrick and DJ Johnston-Smith presented on the ‘Research in Action on Church Heritage’ project, sharing our project aims with the group of attendees. Together, these talks gave a strategic overview of the sector and showed the different ways people are working towards sustainable solutions.
Before an excellent buffet lunch, we split into breakout groups to explore “common problems for unique buildings”. These thematic discussion groups explored issues such as:
- Changes of land use for church land and graveyards
- Challenges around materiality and interiors
- Ecclesiastical exemption
- Adapting of places of worship for new uses
Our project team divided ourselves across the groups so that we could be a part of as many conversations as possible. It was motivating to hear such a variety of perspectives and experiences come together around shared challenges.
After lunch, these group sharing and blue-skying exercises were then effectively summarised by the breakout group facilitators, which led us into lively discussions amongst all the attendees about ways forward and potential collaborations.
For us, one of the most valuable parts of the day was meeting people who are directly involved in saving church heritage and supporting congregations through times of transition. These conversations are already shaping how we design our research, to ensure that it is useful in practice.
We’re excited to keep building these connections, and to continue the conversation at our own symposium on Thursday. Our event will focus more closely on the heritage features of churches, with lightning talks and round-table discussions. We’d love to see many of you there – for more information click here!