SEAD (Scottish Education and Action for Development)

Background

Bankfoot, a small rural community of 1500, seven miles north of Perth watched its parish church burn down on Ash Wednesday in 2004. By autumn 2005, a planning group of 12 had got together to discuss the rebuilding. They had realised a lot of vital community facilities were missing, and that this lack was preventing the area from being sustainable. Controversially, they decided to build a venue of value to the whole community and ensure that this building would exemplar environmental sustainability beyond its community boundaries. The aim of the project is to create a venue that will help spread the gospel & support the community for long term sustainability. There is a current active core of twenty to thirty people who work very hard on the project, but there is also at least another 150 at least involved in small wide ranging projects. A core element has been to insist throughout on sustainable building components and elements, but also, to stick within a ‘typical re-build’ budget. The group have found that the cost of re-building as a fully sustainable unit will be extremely comparable to a typical re-build cost.

What are they doing?

Re-using a previous highly successful house to house survey the group brainstormed the needs of the church and community, now, 30 years, and 100 years hence, and then worked out what tools would be needed to meet these varying needs. The start of the project met with a number of community resistances – people were both resilient to change, and had valid issues with the changes the new building would make on their homes and lives. The project team offered a number of information evenings to help allay the fears. It also brought the village eco-school into the project, and liaised with the village eco committee. The project has ensured that it has created learning opportunities for local children in the new building facilities that will grow their understanding of sustainable living. The group also engages the wider community by sending out a newsletter into every home, five times per year, as well as holding fun and information days, which attract up to 400 people. These activities combined have produced a community 99.9% of whom, are fully engaged and supportive of the project. Whilst it has been extremely hard work, the core group has seen a big change in their community, which has come sooner than expected. The community is talking about and wanting to address environmental issues outside of the community; people are starting to replicate the sustainable practises that the church is carrying out in their own lives. For instance some local farms have introduced ground source heat pumps into their operations, which would not have happened so quickly if the church hadn’t paved the way. The success is such that the group now outreaches into other communities to share how it has turned a disaster into a sustainable, fully engaged community success story.

Bankfoot Community Church Top Tip

Think BIG!

Contact details

Web address: www.bankfootchurch.org.uk