Month 6 - December 2015

Month 5 - November 2015

Interview with Site Manager - Gavin Goodwin

Friday 13^th October: Gavin Goodwin Site Supervisor

Click here to listen to the interview

How did you get into the construction industry?

My father was a painter and decorator and about 12/13 I was getting it into with him going with him to work. I then got into carpentry and it all sort of escalated from there.

How long have you been in the industry now then?

Around 28 to 30 years – maybe even more.

Roughly how many projects have you worked on in your capacity as site manager?

20+ maybe more

So what part of the process of the build do you enjoy the most?

Walking out of the gate! Knowing that I have passed it on to someone and it’s all finished and done and dusted

Do you have a favourite building?

I did a building, Adastral Park a sports pavilion and cricket pavilion and we won an award it was eco-friendly. It was really airtight and sustainable. That was the best one. It was interesting doing it

How would you summarise the process that this building (Merland Rise Church) has been through so far?

Challenging. We have had a lot of problems with different trade aspects of the building because it is slightly complicated with the steel and that sort of stuff. But it’s been interesting but challenging at the same time.

How would you describe the team working on the site?

Very good. Everyone is doing really good at the moment.

Who is the biggest character?

I would say probably the brickie supervisor [Brian - check out our impromptu photoshoot below!]. Yeah he has been the most interesting. I think because he has been the longest person on the site so I have got to know him more than anyone else at the moment.

So do you work with different teams every time or do you have a core team?

Sometimes, it all depends on the project.I have only worked with Caldera for two years. I was specifically taken on for big projects and the first one I did was Horley Church so I am still getting to know Caldera.

At this stage of this project what is the biggest challenge that the building could face?

It is purely the weather. And then we have the roof, that is a challenge because that is complicated but apart from that it is a very traditional build apart from the roof.

And do you have any advice for our church as we wait for the building to be built

Patience! Let me finish it! Nothing really, it is a standard building so hopefully once we pass it over to you and you have your manuals it should go smoothly.

Updated Building Images

Here are the latest set of artists impressions of the new building.

View from Merland Green

View from Merland Rise

View from Car Park

Images courtesy of MEB Design Ltd.

Month 4 - October 2015

October's rebuild video is here. In this one the back walls start going up, the steel for the foyer arrives and the front wall starts to rise.

Month 3 - September 2015

The timelapse video from last month is now ready to view. This one includes the floor going down and the steel going up so exciting things:

The Steel Goes Up

Next photo from Roger: "Too much rain for my normal angle - the worship area begins to take shape"

(Click for full size)

Steel Arrives

The build is coming along rapidly now. The steel is starting to go together and will be lifted early next week. Roger will be there to take photos and the next time-lapse video will be ready early in October.

(Click for full size)

Month 2 - August 2015

Work has been carrying on on the site despite the recent weather. Here is the timelapse video from August Unfortunately a few days went missing at the end of the month where I tried to squeeze two months out of one set of batteries.

Rebuild update September 2015

As many of you have probably seen, our baptistry has been built!
The structure is clearly visible from Merland Close. It is a great and important stage in the build, and, indeed, in the life of our church.

Here are some of the things the Bible says on baptisms to guide us in our prayers for the rest of the building project.

1 Peter 3:21 ESV / Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Matthew 3:16 ESV / And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;

Matthew 28:19-20 ESV / Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

The layout is also taking form giving us a good idea of the size and floorplan of our church. The wall to the right of the baptistry marks the boundary of the worship area. The diagonal wall at the front of the picture below will be the new rear lobby

We will keep you updates with progress on this blog. 

Next week we will have an interview with Ian Ford, 

360° Tour

There has been a lot of looking forward recently. We're looking forward to our new building and have recently launched a new website. While it's good to look forward it's also nice to remember where we've come from. On the new website you can take a 360° tour of our old building as it was in February this year.
http://www.merlandrisechurch.org.uk/360

Month 1 - July 2015

It's already been a month since the old church building was demolished. While it may feel that progress has slowed, the groundworks have been progressing well. Watch the last 30 days in 30 seconds below

Demolition

If you've been past the Church Building lately you will have seen that it had now been demolished. We're really excited about what this means for the future of our Church in this community and we're really looking forward to the building that's to come and the wonderful things that God will do there.

To record the process we have a time-lapse camera in place on the site and below is the first video from the camera documenting the demolition of our current building

The next phase is now slower but we'll add more videos as we reach further milestones.