St Anselm, Kennington
We have received planning permission for our work on St Anselms in Kennington.
St Anselm was conceived as a centralised church with a dome, but not realised due to the interruption of the first world war. This project will recognise the centrality of the original design and reorder the worship space to create a more intimate feeling and sense of connection within the building. The proposals consist of two elements, to be undertaken in distinct phases, starting with the redesign of the interior followed by the development of new private accommodation to the rear of the building.
The interior proposals include creating step free access to the front of the church with enlarged new welcome space, and storage for the coffee/flower stalls; and a reordering of the church in line with its original plan as a Latin Cross basilica with the current altar and towering reredos.
Beyond the reredos, the current dead space would be utilised to create a four-storey tower comprising a ground floor that would operate during services as the retro choir, used outside these times as a large semi-enclosed space with impressive windows overlooking a new garden. The first and second floors provide parish offices, toilets, a meeting spaces, and the top floor would be an impressive room open to the rafters, it could accommodate a variety of uses from Sunday School to Boys Brigade to ballet.
