Dazzling abbey project wins national prize for architects
A local firm of architects has won a prestigious award for its work on Bath Abbey.
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, based in Bath and London, received the 2022 Presidents’ Award for new church architecture for its part in the abbey’s Footprint project.
The church received a prize of £500 and the historic silver National Churches’ Trust chalice and paten at the National Church Awards.
Bath Abbey has been the centre for Christian faith in the Unesco city of Bath for more than 1,300 years. The project ensures that it remains so for future generations, through repair and conservation work and much-needed new facilities.
Judges praised the project as being innovative, sensitive and elegant.
Within the abbey, the main focus was the repair and conservation of the historic stone floor, which has more memorials than any other church or cathedral in the UK.
The works have revealed the magnificent floor and all the 891 carved memorial stones for the first time in 150 years.
A new scheme of energy efficient LED lighting has been undertaken throughout the Abbey interior.
This reduces energy consumption and allows the refined and unique interior of Bath Abbey to be fully appreciated.
The building’s 100-year-old heating system was also starting to fail and the abbey had the unique opportunity to make use of the Bath hot springs as a low carbon heat source.
Beneath the abbey, in the Grade I listed pavement vaults and in the adjacent Grade II listed Georgian terrace, spaces have been reorganised and new spaces created, to suit the future needs of the abbey.
The event was hosted by Hugh Dennis, comedian, presenter and actor with the Rev Canon Ann Easter, a former chaplain to the late Queen Elizabeth, at a ceremony held at the historic Mercers’ Company Livery Hall in the City of London.
Hugh said: “Packed with history and heritage, centres for vital community support and places for worship and reflection, churches are a beating heart of the nation.
“A huge congratulations is due to the architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios for their work at Bath Abbey.
“The National Church Awards will inspire others with new ideas to make their churches welcoming, long lasting and thriving, at the service of all.”
The National Church Awards had winners in four categories: architecture, community and volunteers, maintenance, and tourism.
Judges chose winners from over 180 nominations made by churches throughout the UK.
The church architecture awards are a partnership between the National Churches Trust and the Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association.