I Can feel It Coming in the Air…

Words by Nigel Dickson

Photos by Julie Harris

Bit of a tenuous link… but the more I look at and the more I talk about the progress of the new LifeChurch building, the more that mood of expectation (expressed in the Phil Collins’ song) is evoked.  The real tenuous link, however, is that it is coming in the air in the sense that the most recent work has been on the building’s ventilation system.  Not that that is what excites me most; it’s more that, when I peer through the scaffolding now, there is a proper sense of the building taking shape – the brickwork, the roofing and even some of the windows are now very much in place.

But it’s inside that the current progress is being made.  If the concrete frame was the skeleton, the bricks and mortar the flesh of the building, then it’s the internal organs – those invisible bits and pieces so crucial to a living body – that are currently being put into place: not just the ventilation system; but containment work which prepares the way for electricity cables to be installed; and partitioning which creates the working spaces inside the building.  

And all this work has gone on uninterrupted by the elements, including the relentless downpours of April, as the roof-lining, in place since early March, has meant that the inner parts are all fully-sheltered.

Next job is tarmacking the car park, which – if you are not already aware – will be below the building, the building itself being built on stilts in order to make this car-parking space available.

When asked about relationships with neighbours, site-manager, David Leigh, was very positive: “We actually had coffee with the neighbours earlier in the month,” he said, referring to a morning on May 4^th when church members and those living locally were invited to come along and hear about progress and ask questions of the building team.

David estimates that the whole project is about 5-6 weeks behind schedule, owing to some initial issues with disconnecting gas supply and some changes to the original specifications which have caused additional hold-ups.  However, the building should be ready to hand over in mid-to-late October.

So, whilst “I can feel it coming in the air”, I’m just going to have to “hold on…hold on…” just that little bit longer.