Chapel renovation shows how to go green

Innovative renovation work at Prittlewell Chapel could help residents cut their energy bills.

Residents are urged to view the latest film about the refurbishment, to learn more about the sustainable technologies being used to restore the chapel at North Road Cemetery , Southend.

The film shows how good quality insulation, and renewable technologies, like solar panels - such as those used in the building work - can reduce your carbon footprint and energy bills.

It illustrates the importance of making buildings energy efficient and how everyone can achieve this goal.

This new footage giving exclusive access to the building work is the latest in the series of short community-based films, funded by Build with CaRe (Carbon Reduction).

These can be seen on Youtube via Southend-on-Sea Borough Council's website:  http://www.southend.gov.uk/buildwithcare

The Council and the Build with CaRe partnership are well under way with the transformation of the formerly redundant Prittlewell Chapel and the North Road Burial site in Southend.

Once completed, Prittlewell Chapel will be handed over to SAVS (Southend Association of Voluntary Services) to be used as a community resource.

Following this film, the next one in the Build with CaRe film series will show how energy saving devices installed at the refurbished chapel, can be used in domestic properties  

The £1,020,426 Prittlewell Chapel project is being funded by a £998,714 Community Assets Grant from the Office of the Third Sector, managed by BIG Lottery. A further £21,712 is being provided by the Southend Economic Participation programme through the East of England Development Agency.  

Mark Flewitt, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council's Executive Councillor for Transport and Planning, said: "This latest film shows how this previously dilapidated chapel is being given a new and sustainable lease of life, with energy-saving attributes which can certainly be tried out at home.

"It is a great opportunity to see how these sustainable technologies can work. As well as assisting the voluntary sector, once this refurbishment project is completed, it will also help to launch new social enterprise businesses."

North Road Cemetery was originally created to provide extra burial capacity for St Mary's Church in Victoria Avenue , Southend.  

The chapel was built in 1879 within the grounds of Prittlewell cemetery, and the Council bought the freehold for £900 on 15th November that year. Although the cemetery itself is currently near capacity and rarely used, internments are still carried out into family graves.

There are a high number of military graves within the cemetery, and there are also plans to provide information boards to give more details about the background of these.

For further information on Build with CaRe please visit: http://www.buildwithcare.eu/ and follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/build_with_care