St Andrew's

Psalter Lane

Church

Property and Finance Report

Property and Finance Committee Annual Report 1st April 2021 – 31st March 2022
 

The P&F committee met 4 times during the period: twice in person and twice via Zoom.
 

Administration
Staffing:
• Property and Liaison Officer – Catherine Rooker-Brown: (appointed 1st December 2021)
Contract was renewed for another year.
• Utilities – We are nearing the end of supply contracts. Having decided to switch our electricity
supplier to Bulb, they have gone out of business.

 

Property
Quinquennial Inspection: Various maintenance issues were highlighted and progress since report dated 14th September, is as follows:
Essential in next 12 months (likely to cost £7000-£9000):
• External painting throughout (Church rainwater pipes and exterior of Shirley House completed)
• Rainwater pipes at Church (Completed, also 4 manhole covers replaced)
• Clean all gullies (Done, but some challenging gullies at Shirley House)
• Remove ivy from Shirley House (Done)
• Fire protection to doors (Architect Tom Crooks has been asked for advice)
• Safety glass to windows, doors and vestibule frames (Completed)
• Repairs to rainwater pipes, eaves gutters and timbers to Shirley House (Quotes requested)
• Reconstruct cellar entrance at Shirley House (Need to seek clarification on what’s needed)
Essential in next 5 years (inc work at Shirley House- likely to cost £10000-£15000):
• Rising dampness in Church (No action)
• Repairs to fleche (spire) to roof (Architect appointed, and initial high-level survey is planned,
possible sources of funding are being investigated)
• Penetrating dampness in toilets in Church (Suspect leaks in flashing to be investigated)
• Dampness in Shirley House porch. (No actions)
There were no items of the utmost urgency, advisable within 5 years or requiring further investigation.
Our experience is that the cost of work considerably exceeds the surveyor’s estimations.

 

Shirley House
Leases:
• All tenants have now signed leases.
• The Interfaith Room is let 2 days per week on licence to the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship

 

Lettings:
• The second lockdown resulted in cancellations, but no clients quit and booking numbers have
recovered.

 

Works:
• The proposal to install a notice board visible on the Psalter Lane frontage to display details of
tenants' companies remains deferred.
• The proposed kitchen upgrade has been deferred for the time being.
• Quinquennial works carried out as listed above

 

Church
Works:
• The fleche, which is an important feature of the Church roof, is in a poor state of repair. We have
appointed Tom Crooks who is an architect with experience of dealing with renovations to heritage
buildings as an advisor. Accordingly, we require a survey of the structure using a cherry picker and
internal scaffolding tower to allow access by the architect, a structural engineer and a metal roofing
specialist for a detailed assessment of the required replacement and renovation works. As we are
unable to find the asbestos survey carried out for the reordering of the Church in c2005, we will
need to have another survey carried out. The survey should have taken place on 17th February.
Due to storm Dudley this was deferred to 24th February, but the weather was too stormy on this
date too. The project has been submitted for TMCP approval, but until the high-level survey has
been carried out the exact details and cost of the works are not fully known. Although we have
some funds set aside for the works in this year’s budget, we are expecting to need to allocate
further funds next year and will probably need to launch an appeal for funds and obtain external
funding. Various sources of external funding have been identified. CRB is managing the project.
• We are creating an inventory of the Church's belongings.
• The heating system pressurisation pump needed to be replaced following flooding of the cellar.
The boilers were extinguished but remained in working order once the burners were cleared of
water. The drains are being checked for blockages.
• The final details of the design of the light box to better illuminate the Morris School stained glass
in the Narthex are nearing completion. We have one quote for the box, and we are awaiting
another.
• The fabricator for the stairway to provide safe access to the roof space has asked a design
engineer to produce a specification for this work. It is proposed that the latter will visit the Church
when access is available via a scaffolding tower, which will be in place to facilitate the inspection
of the interior of the fleche.
• The hearing loop system has been installed in the chancel. The linking of this to access via
Zoom is not yet completed.
• The Eco Group is investigating the possibility of installing photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of
the Church or Shirley House.
• The Archdeacon’s inspection took place in November. We were able to assemble all the
necessary documentation.
• The Annual property survey and Church Return was completed following approval by the ECC on
3rd December 2021.
• Quinquennial works carried out as listed above.

 

Covid 19:
• Services continued in Church through the second lock-down with social distancing, face
coverings and test and trace record keeping. Live streaming of services on YouTube started with
Sunday afternoon services on 16th May following the purchase and installation of the necessary
equipment and has continued with regular Sunday services when they resumed on 4th July. We
are grateful to Simon Dumpleton for this. The system still requires a computer, monitor and other
minor items to be installed. Once this is done, we will need to train more operators for the live
streaming, TV screens and sound controls. We need to install shelving on the balcony to
accommodate the equipment.
• Weekly flushing of the water system was carried out during the lockdown.
• The St Andrews Psalter Lane Music Festival organised by Ray Kohn took place in November.

 

Fees
• We are revising the fees for the services of a verger and organist at weddings and funerals and
setting new fees for live-streaming, screen and sound system operations.

 

St Andrew’s Hall
• The tenants of the Church Centre have informed us of their intention to replace the heating
system. They investigation a heat pump system, but it is likely that the replacement will be gas-
fired.

 

Grounds
• Garden working parties were organised on the first Saturday of each month. Anthony Ashwell
planted potatoes which produced a good and tasty crop. We have continued to clear the
undergrowth from the shrubbery area. Garden waste and prunings are being processed into
compost and wood chips. Trees that were interfering with the telephone wires were pruned, the
grass was mown by several volunteers and we had a good crop of apples in September. The
new fruit trees are all growing.
• Major pruning of trees overhanging adjacent roads was carried out by Underwoods tree
surgeons. We intend to continue to remove dead and overhanging branches from other trees.
• For the second year we decided to place a decorated Christmas tree on the porch roof.

 

Health and Safety Issues
• We are expecting Yorkshire Ambulance Service to provide training for the use of the defibrillator
at sometime.
• We are refraining from placing items that could fall from the balcony on the ledge.


JCC 17th March 2022

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