The Lighthouse Church wins 2024 Church Architecture Awards
Congratulations to The Lighthouse Church in Heswall, who have won the President’s Award at the 2024 National Church Architecture Awards. The awards are organised by the Ecclesiastical Architects & Surveyors Association (EASA) and the National Churches Trust (NCT) and are open to churches of all denominations.
This report is from Christine Wetherall at The Lighthouse Church:
"The President’s Award is presented to the project that is judged to be the best new church building, re-ordering of an existing building or major extension. Darren Jones, who has been our principal architect from our project architects, shedkm, attended the ceremony in London on Thursday 16th January. In an exhibition of the finalists on display at the event, The Lighthouse Church stood out for being bold and contemporary, amongst a shortlist of much more traditional buildings. The building attracted a lot of interest from those attending.
"Members of the judging panel visited The Lighthouse Church (some anonymously) and were extremely impressed with the relationship to the high street and the way the church engages with the wider community. In particular, they were excited by the way the design of the building has given the Parish the opportunity to engage in new ways, providing the flexibility to host a diversity of events, service and outreach. The panel were complementary about the way shedkm architects worked closely with the steering group to successfully translate the Parish’s vision for hospitality and service into a welcoming and accessible building that invites people in to participate. The panel were delighted to see the architecture of the new church successfully helping to increase the size and diversity of the congregation, as well as being extremely energy efficient. From the very start of the congregational conversations about the project (many years ago), it was always ‘the vision’ to have a building that was interactive between church and community, and so many have contributed in so many ways to make this vision a reality.
"The award includes a valuable piece of silverware associated with the President’s Award, curtsey of the National Churches Trust, which is now in our safe keeping for the year; and a £500 prize for the church. This is in addition to the £1,000 for the Green Churches Award which we received in September 2024. Both prizes will be used to further improve the building, for both the congregation and outreach."