Bruntsfield church bought by community
Community empowered to convert church for benefit of young and old
AN EDINBURGH community has taken ownership of historic city church
Bruntsfield St Oswald's.
David Urch heads up a five-strong team working on the community asset transfer of the Montpelier building from the council.
They have now completed the first stage of the project and will now look to obtain planning permission and listed building consent before renovation works begin.
The purchase made under the Community Empowerment Act 2015 was supported by a grant from the Scottish Land Fund. The building is expected to open to the public in 2022 after extensive works.
David has spent most of his career in fund management but this new venture is taking up a good deal of his time.
He said: "I was originally chair of the parent council at Bruntsfield Primary School, when St Oswald's was being vacated. It was formerly the annexe to Boroughmuir High School. Being in such close proximity, immediately next door to the primary school, it seemed far too good an opportunity to let pass by without at least exploring.
“There are a number of clear options for the building. One of the key motivations is the overcrowded school next door, so there is an opportunity for wraparound childcare with breakfast clubs and after school care. At Bruntsfield Primary there are only 90 places available on a roll of over 600, so it seems that there is demand, and there may even be a way of joining both buildings by an access through a mutual boundary wall.”
The school has lost a lot of general purpose space and Bruntsfield St Oswald's will offer opportunities for drama and music, and other extra-curricular clubs which the primary school cannot host at present.
He added: "We originally put together a working group to assess the feasibility of trying to get involved with building. We became aware of the legislation and its ability to allow community asset transfers. And that really kick-started what has been a two and a half year process, which culminated in us taking ownership of the building at the end of March."
David explained there is a process - not necessarily quick and easy but clearly set out. He said: "Part of it is obtaining a market value for the building. Once you've established it is surplus to requirements, it's then permissible for a community asset transfer. A joint survey gauges the market value, and is carried out by an independent surveyor."
In the case of Bruntsfield St Oswald's the market value was £465,000, but the price paid was around £200,000 based on a number of factors, such as condition of the premises after being vacant for three years, and reflecting that the building needs considerable repair.
David said: "It needs quite a lot of refurbishment but we were able to bring to bear a lot of social and community benefits. We tried to put a value to them as best we could and that resulted in a significant discount.”
David also explained there are bodies which support these initiatives, like the Scottish Land Fund, who looked favourably on their application.
He said: "There is a clear, but arduous two stage process of assessment. And we were fortunate that they saw fit to support all of the acquisition cost."
As part of both funding applications, the group had to show evidence of a sustainable long term business plan for the building. They detailed the remedial works they plan to carry out and a 10 year programme costed at around £1.5 million. That has been broken down into three phases, immediate, medium and long term. Over the first 18 months the group will spend around £500,000 on opening the building to the public to generate revenue.
At the other end of the age spectrum the building will also be opened up to older people in the shape of clients from The Eric Liddell Centre overseen by Chief Executive, John Macmillan. David said there is a natural dovetail between St Oswald's and Eric Liddell. He said: "John's been a fantastic supporter through this whole process and there's a real synergy here because they obviously have lots of history of running a charitable business or activity in a very old church, and maintaining that building, and how to manage it. John's focus is on the whole community, but I think everyone recognises they're very well known for their work with the elderly, with dementia and their carers in particular."
St. Oswald's Church and Hall was designated a Category B listing (buildings of special architectural or historic interest which are major examples of a particular period, style or building type) by Historic Scotland in 1993.
Until closure in February 2018 it was used as the Annexe for the former Boroughmuir High School and occasionally as a venue for performances during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.