For prospective buyers, hearts can easily sink when looking at local property listings. Filmmaker Tim Brown couldn’t face the more affordable "boring" new builds, so he looked at the auction listings online and to his delight found a chapel, close to Bristol’s city centre. "The city has great energy and the property looked interesting," he recalls. "When I viewed it, it felt like something pretty special."
Although this was his first renovation, Tim grew up around his parents’ building projects. "They gave me a taste for it," he says. "Working in film is not a million miles from renovation – it’s all about ideas and teamwork."
Yet this chapel conversion would be a challenge for anyone, which probably explains why it had been abandoned for at least two decades. The chapel was unloved, yet Grade II-listed, and "I couldn’t have chosen anything more complicated," says Tim. "It was definitely a leap of faith."
Project details
- Location Bristol
- House type Converted Victorian chapel
- Size 155sq m
- Renovation cost £2,500sq m
- Contractors South West Contractors
- Architect Oxford Architects
Cutting out the rot
The building was in extremely poor condition despite being modernised in the late 20th century. There was no plumbing, electricity or heating and a lack of basic maintenance meant that the gutters had filled up and water had entered the structure.
The original Victorian floor tiles from the hall were stacked against the walls and the entire building was on the brink of dereliction. Although Tim had bought the chapel with planning permission, he didn’t like the plans and went to the original architect to have them redrawn.
Tim also commissioned a series of specialist surveys for lead paint, dampness and so on, as "there were a lot of unknowns". Unfortunately, one of those unknowns soon became a concern when Tim and his brother-in-law started to remove the decorative timber wall panelling.
"We found a chaos of dry rot and pigeon guano," he says. "It had gone right through the A-frames and the structural support was eaten away. I had to spend an extra £100,000, which was the worst thing about the whole project."
Unreliable contractors
Tim had selected a building firm through the tender process but after six months of little progress on the chapel, the builders walked off the project.
"That was a real low point. I was left sitting in a freezing building with no windows, no plan and £100k in."
Unbowed, Tim saw this as an opportunity to get the project moving. Taking seven months off work, he toiled with a small team of hand-picked specialists and subcontractors to make the building "habitable".
Tim’s first task – and biggest challenge – was treating or removing the rot and making the building structurally sound. Some of the replaced timbers were unusually curved hips and even the stonework was impacted where it adjoined individual wooden buttresses. Even just the struts that Tim hired to support the building during this process cost £10,000.
Getting hands-on
While this important structural work was being done by experts, Tim got his hands dirty scrubbing, repointing the stonework and stripping layers of lead paint from this unique 170-year old building.
He also sanded and reinstated the original wall panelling, which had become very dark over time. "I just wanted to take it back to the original colours," he says.
The chapel’s most striking original feature is, of course, the stained-glass windows. Tim had these carefully removed and each pane of glass re-leaded, a process that he thought would be slow, but which turned out to be one of the first parts of the building to be completed. "The original glass is beautiful, with largely geometric patterns," he says.
Once the building was structurally sound and ready for the first fix, Tim engaged a new building contractor; one he had talked to during the original tender process – this time with success.
A new start
"South West Contractors were angels," says Tim. Under their direction, the electrics, plumbing and heating were installed, the building was insulated and a new subfloor laid, with underfloor heating pipes incorporated.
With a reliable building firm finally in charge, Tim turned his attention to the interiors, which have been finished to the highest standards.
"For me, this was the most exciting part of the whole project," explains Tim, who created a 200-page document of ideas, plans and references for the job. "I didn’t want it to feel like a church. I wanted to respect the beauty and features of the building, but add things such as the mezzanine, the kitchen and the stairs, which are all modern and are a bridge between the two, fusing the different elements."
Tim designed the contemporary, yet sympathetic kitchen himself, as well as the bathroom layout and the striking metal, oak and glass staircase, which has exceptional detailing where the glass has been cut to follow the pattern of the steps.
The mezzanine, which is in the main hall, is the standout feature of the modernised building. By "floating" in the centre of this space, not only does it solve that common problem when converting chapels – namely installing a floor across the original windows – "it also breaks up the space and makes it feel more cosy downstairs," says Tim.
This level boasts one of the property’s three bedrooms and his home office. "It’s fun to make my work calls here," says Tim. "People ask if it’s a fake background."
Material difference
Tim’s choice of materials is central to his design decisions. Although he initially had concerns about including different timbers in one space, the pale maple of the kitchen cabinetry highlights the contemporary elements in that zone.
Here, granite and quartz also work well as natural materials used in a modern way, helping to bring old and new together.
"There’s lots of stone and woodwork in the building, including oak, maple and a pitch pine roof," he says. "But it comes together well – especially the lighter kitchen and the darkness of the roof."
Unsurprisingly, given his profession, Tim loves his new LED lighting system. "It can change colours and the effect is fantastic at night," he explains. "It can be moody with low lights and I can use it to highlight features."
Has this extreme introduction to renovation dampened Tim’s interest in doing up properties? Not a bit of it.
"I’m keen to do another," says Tim. "I chose the most complicated thing possible, but it is such a good way to learn – I feel like I’ve done another degree! I love working in film, but it doesn’t feel as tangible as working on a task like this, where I can see the results and feel the physicality of it. I love being here every day."
Want more inspiration? See how two timber-clad extensions transformed this family home in South Yorkshire. Or, take a tour of this modern eco-home in Berkshire that produces more energy than it uses.
