Newport Congregational Church

EXTENSION TO NEWPORT CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Mountjoy recently carried out an extension to Newport Congregational Church, Ryde. Although the project started in 2008, it did not get underway immediately due to the funding difficulties experienced by the client.

The scope of the works included the construction of a double-storey community hall, with a large coffee area on the ground floor, and a flexible open-plan space upstairs. The hall is a timber-frame construction with buff-coloured brick cladding, inset coloured glass blocks and topped with a slate roof. The newly built tall circular entrance tower features blue bricks and curved glass walls, and houses the staircase to the first floor.

Historically, the site housed a garage and as a result, diesel/hydrocarbon pollution had to be removed from the ground. A high-voltage cable, which ran beneath the footprint of the building had to be diverted, and a specialist appointed to kill and remove Japanese knot weed.