Maintain our Heritage
Maintain our Heritage and
tHe diocese of gloucester
GutterClear was set up in 2007 by the Diocese of Gloucester in collaboration with Maintain our Heritage. The scheme in fact grew out of a pilot historic building maintenance scheme based in Bath, mounted by Maintain our Heritage, which was taken up by a number of churches south of Gloucester. Maintain then carried out a survey of churchwardens in the diocese and found significant interest in a simple preventive maintenance service for churches.
Maintain our Heritage and the Diocese of Gloucester worked together to plan and run the scheme. A small project board of representatives of both partner bodies guides the joint venture.
The diocese has just under 400 parish churches, most of which are listed buildings. Each parish is responsible for the upkeep of the fabric of its buildings but the diocese has a strong interest in helping parishes to care for them.
Maintain our Heritage is a not-for-profit company set up by a group of architects, surveyors and conservationists to campaign for better maintenance practices, and to put their ideas into practice.
gutterclear today
The scheme continues to operate. Places of worship in the Gloucestershire area may join at any time. For further information on the scheme now, please see www.gutterclear.org or enquire by email – [email protected] – or telephone 01452 835527.
furtHer inforMation
For further information on GutterClear, past and present, and how to benefit from it as a model, Maintain our Heritage will be happy to help. The website www.gutterclear.org gives more details and enquiries may be addressed to Timothy Cantell, Maintain Project Coordinator:
Maintain our Heritage
Weymouth House, Beechen Cliff, Bath BA2 4QS
Tel 01225 482228 Mobile 07974 674639
[email protected]
The first Three years
A typical cherrypicker used by GutterClear: its compact form allows it to move in narrow and and awkward spaces, through lych gates, along churchyard paths and around memorials. Yet, when fully extended it has a reach of up to 23 metres vertically, and an operating radius of up to 11 metres.
How gutterclear works
an experienced local contractor makes a visit to
the church and cleans and tests downpipes and
gutters. any other problems found, such as a slipped
slate, blocked drain or broken gutter, are reported
to the client and, after the visit, the contractor
issues before-and-after photographs and a checklist
setting out the maintenance work completed.
during the first three years of the scheme, parishes
would arrange a visit through the gutterclear
administrator, and he would remind the parish
about a repeat clearance a year later. now, with the
scheme well established, parishes deal directly with
the contractor (although a member of the diocesan
staff is there to assist when called upon). The
contractor also reminds parishes about repeat visits.
The diocese has accredited contractors for the
scheme. Before a first visit, the contractor makes a
preliminary visit to assess the scale of the job, the
access method and any unusual health and safety
problems before issuing a quote. The decision to
accept the quote or not rests with the parish.
There is a simple agreement between parish and
contractor that is prepared at the outset of the
scheme, and there is also a standard gutterclear
specification which contractors work to.
The contractor may use a powered access platform
(cherry picker) or ladders, or a combination
of both. a feature of the scheme has been the
suitability of modern cherry pickers for this work.
contractors may quote for clearing gutters on other
buildings such as church halls or changing inaccessible
light bulbs (cherry pickers can also operate inside
churches). contractors can also be asked to apply
smartwater to vulnerable materials such as lead during
the visit so that the material can be traced if stolen.
The visit can also be used to allow church
architects or surveyors to inspect high-level
parts of the building. This is particularly useful
in the run up to quinquennial inspections.
Note: GutterClear is open to places of worship of all faiths
and denominations. Eight non-Anglican places of worship
have already joined the scheme, and in this report ‘church’
is used as a shorthand for places of worship of all kinds.
Published by Maintain our Heritage with the help of Cathedral Communications Limited, May 2011tHe value of Maintenance
Preventative maintenance – work such as clearing gutters and downpipes and inspecting the outside of a building – will reduce the likelihood of decay. Without it, a building can deteriorate with alarming speed. Modest spending on regular maintenance is highly cost-effective because it reduces the need for more expensive repairs: prevention is better than cure. It will also prevent or reduce the loss of original fabric, and so helps preserve the cultural value of an old building. Major repair problems involving extensive replacement of building fabric are often the result of neglect. In other words, money is wasted on work that could have been avoided. This principle applies to almost all buildings – churches, houses, schools, commercial buildings and so on. Maintenance is especially important in the case of churches where the lifespan of the building is indefinite and the cultural value of the fabric is high. The Diocese of London found that if a church doesn’t clear out its gutters for five years, (which costs about £250 a year plus VAT), the resulting repair bill is never less than £25,000 and often a lot more.
Joining GutterClear will save your church community lots of money, time, organisation and worry. How? • You spend far less on repairs, because you avoid a lot of expensive defects. • There are the savings of time and energy (you won’t have to arrange fundraising, committee meetings, grant applications and liaison with architects, diocese, local authority and contractors, for repairs you have avoided). • There’s the peace of mind – when it’s raining hard, you won’t be worrying whether the gutters can cope, or whether there will be a puddle of rainwater to deal with just before a service, unusable hymn books or a ruined carpet. extract from gutterclear leaflet
Making Maintenance easy
gutterclear is a path-finding scheme to
keep churches in the gloucestershire area
in good condition.
well over one hundred churches have taken
part so far. The scheme has shown that such
a maintenance service is needed, can be run
successfully and is valued by its customers.
this report celebrates the first three
years of gutterclear, highlighting its
achievements and the lessons to be learnt.
the key message is that a scheme for
places of worship like this can happen
anywhere. gutterclear has pioneered
a process that can easily be replicated.
all it needs is a kick-start. after that a
scheme will pretty much look after itself.
Debris removeD from one visit incluDeD: • two elder and one ash sapling • one two-pound claw hammer • one metal eaves bracket • a very large quantity of rotting leaf matter and other fine debris. not surprisingly, a number of gutters and downpipes had long ceased to carry rainwater away properly and some resulting stone damage was evident. by the end of the day-long clearance all the gutters, hopper heads and downpipes were operating fully – as part of the job they were checked by flushing with water. Gutterclear enjoys very high satisfaction levels from clients who have used the services and from those who have taken up a quote. The administration of the scheme was judged to be very good and the contractors who carried out the work were identified as efficient and professional. Those who had used the service gained added value from the report, which in 50 per cent of cases identified further repair needs. overall, Gutterclear has a very good reputation.
Market research commissioned by gutterclear
wHat cHurcHes say
aBout gutterclear
“my Pcc was doubtful at first, but eventually agreed to give it a try. The visit was easy to organise and professional and showed us just how fast gutters and downpipes can get blocked. now it’s a routine visit, just like servicing the boiler.”
revd Pat Phillips,
redmarley group of parishes
“As we have a most difficult church (in respect of height) and a lot of trouble with nesting jackdaws and pigeons, this arrangement is a ‘God-send’ to us churchwardens here ! ”
andrew Pemberton, churchwarden, st Mary’s, woodchester
“The photos and report identified a major problem with the slates and top of the parapet wall of the lady chapel, invisible from the ground. repairs costing several hundred pounds were initiated and undoubtedly saved a massive repair bill for the lady chapel roof in a few years’ time.”
John davis, administrator, st george’s, nailsworth
“We didn’t even know that a tree was growing in that inaccessible and sheltered spot in the gutter. it just goes to show what the equipment can cope with. Just imagine what structural damage those tree roots could have done in time ! ”
gordon norris, finance officer,
rc church of the annunciation, inchbrook
costs
The cost depends on the size and complexity of the building. A visit to an average rural church costs about £300, while large and complex city churches may cost twice that. (The costs of projects carried out so far have ranged from £150 to £900, the average being £300.) VAT is additional, but for the time being this can often be reclaimed through the Listed Places of Worship scheme. GutterClear visits by a contractor are not subsidised: the parish bears the full cost of the work done, but no more. Although setting up the scheme and providing some central administration and marketing in the first three years did incur costs, these were not recovered from those using the service, as the scheme had the generous support of a number of private donors and of a grant from English Heritage. GutterClear has now developed to a point where it can function without further subsidy or centralised administration.
ProMotion
GutterClear is marketed through a dedicated website (www.gutterclear.org) and by mailshots of a printed leaflet outlining the benefits of the scheme. The scheme has also been supported by press coverage, articles in diocesan publications and exposure at various conferences and events. A number of visits have been advertised to nearby churches as demonstration events and the scheme’s benefits have also spread effectively by word-of-mouth. GutterClear was inaugurated with a demonstration gutter clearance and launch ceremony with a national speaker. In year two, when the credit crunch was depressing take-up, an incentive was offered: up to 50 churches could claim a £100 grant towards the cost.
take-uP target
GutterClear aimed to get 50 per cent of CofE churches to take up the service or to adopt similar practices. About 25 per cent of churches have taken up the service and a similar percentage of churches adopt similar practices (some had pre-existing arrangements with contractors, some manage with members of the congregation doing the work). The scheme thus met its target after three years.
GutterClear is successful, but not yet a roaring success. The scheme is likely to continue to grow, but a significant minority of churches leave things to chance, even with the scheme making maintenance easy to arrange. They call in a builder when a problem arises. By being merely reactive, they are missing the benefits of the systematic preventative maintenance that GutterClear brings.
attitudes to Maintenance
GutterClear demonstrates how difficult it is to tackle some of the underlying causes of poor maintenance: ignorance, inertia and a long-established, almost institutionalised resistance to maintenance. GutterClear will take years, perhaps decades, to win wholehearted and widespread support to embed good maintenance practices.
More vigorous encouragement and monitoring of maintenance practices by church leaders would help. Grant providers could do more to advance maintenance by looking at the record of maintenance before they award a grant, and by ensuring maintenance is carried out afterwards. Most of all, greater leadership and example is needed from central and local government and bodies such as English Heritage to make the case for maintenance. Maintain our Heritage’s earlier report, Putting it Off , gives a set of recommendations that are still relevant. The Diocese of Gloucester and maintain our Heritage wish to express their profound thanks to the donors, those who introduced the donors to the scheme, and to english Heritage for making the scheme possible. not only is the scheme maintaining over 100 churches in good condition (and reducing the burden of repair costs) but it is also paving the way for comparable initiatives elsewhere.
strengtHs of tHe scHeMe
The sheer amount of detritus and foreign objects being removed from church gutters amply demonstrates the need for the service.
GutterClear has proven that it is possible to set up and run a scheme that makes maintenance easy.
For congregations, there is a choice of reliable and competent contractors and an appropriate specification for the work. They also have the assurance of the involvement of the diocese and support for the scheme from outside bodies such as Maintain our Heritage and English Heritage.
GutterClear shows that suitable contractors for this type of service can be recruited from the building and access trades. The scheme also shows that it is possible to devise a pricing structure to make the work affordable and attractive to congregations, but also profitable for the contractor. (Greater take-up would have generated more economies of scale but even at the moderate level achieved so far the scheme runs without subsidy.)
The participating churches are satisfied with the service and many have written to us to say so (see above). The scheme has established a good reputation for reliability and value for money.
looking forward
GutterClear was conceived as a model as well as a live scheme and the principles behind it could be adopted throughout the UK.
Maintain our Heritage will be glad to help those contemplating a maintenance scheme. Successor schemes need not reinvent the wheel: set up costs, in fact, will be lower for those who use GutterClear’s specification and contract as a model, and other material such as leaflets could at least be a starting point. Now that the initial three-year period has been completed, this report will further help others to see what can be done. At the same time, material has been added to the GutterClear website to help others who wish to set up similar schemes. Encouragingly, Anglican dioceses elsewhere have already shown interest in the scheme without any formal promotion having taken place.
The scheme is for places of worship but the experience is useful for everyone concerned with looking after buildings. Maintain our Heritage believes that there is a market opportunity for similar services aimed at houses, schools, public buildings, commercial properties and others. It’s an opportunity not only for builders but for operators of the access equipment that makes maintenance easier than it used to be.
related initiatives
A scheme similar to GutterClear has been in operation in London since 2006. There is also a scheme operating in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. GutterClear has exchanged information with both schemes.
GutterClear has established links with The Churches Conservation Trust, the National Churches Trust, and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (whose Faith in Maintenance initiative helps volunteers who look after historic places of worship) and others. Maintain our Heritage is a member of POW (Places of Worship at the Heritage Alliance). GutterClear features in English Heritage’s Inspired! campaign.
GutterClear
Salt crystallisation on an interior wall may be the most obvious effect of the overflow from a blocked gutter or hopper above. Inspecting the roof timbers above may reveal far more serious consequences. (Photo: Rachel Bower, Faith in Maintenance)
Maintain our Heritage
Maintain our Heritage and
tHe diocese of gloucester
GutterClear was set up in 2007 by the Diocese of Gloucester in collaboration with Maintain our Heritage. The scheme in fact grew out of a pilot historic building maintenance scheme based in Bath, mounted by Maintain our Heritage, which was taken up by a number of churches south of Gloucester. Maintain then carried out a survey of churchwardens in the diocese and found significant interest in a simple preventive maintenance service for churches.
Maintain our Heritage and the Diocese of Gloucester worked together to plan and run the scheme. A small project board of representatives of both partner bodies guides the joint venture.
The diocese has just under 400 parish churches, most of which are listed buildings. Each parish is responsible for the upkeep of the fabric of its buildings but the diocese has a strong interest in helping parishes to care for them.
Maintain our Heritage is a not-for-profit company set up by a group of architects, surveyors and conservationists to campaign for better maintenance practices, and to put their ideas into practice.
gutterclear today
The scheme continues to operate. Places of worship in the Gloucestershire area may join at any time. For further information on the scheme now, please see www.gutterclear.org or enquire by email – [email protected] – or telephone 01452 835527.
furtHer inforMation
For further information on GutterClear, past and present, and how to benefit from it as a model, Maintain our Heritage will be happy to help. The website www.gutterclear.org gives more details and enquiries may be addressed to Timothy Cantell, Maintain Project Coordinator:
Maintain our Heritage
Weymouth House, Beechen Cliff, Bath BA2 4QS
Tel 01225 482228 Mobile 07974 674639
[email protected]
The first Three years
A typical cherrypicker used by GutterClear: its compact form allows it to move in narrow and and awkward spaces, through lych gates, along churchyard paths and around memorials. Yet, when fully extended it has a reach of up to 23 metres vertically, and an operating radius of up to 11 metres.
How gutterclear works
an experienced local contractor makes a visit to
the church and cleans and tests downpipes and
gutters. any other problems found, such as a slipped
slate, blocked drain or broken gutter, are reported
to the client and, after the visit, the contractor
issues before-and-after photographs and a checklist
setting out the maintenance work completed.
during the first three years of the scheme, parishes
would arrange a visit through the gutterclear
administrator, and he would remind the parish
about a repeat clearance a year later. now, with the
scheme well established, parishes deal directly with
the contractor (although a member of the diocesan
staff is there to assist when called upon). The
contractor also reminds parishes about repeat visits.
The diocese has accredited contractors for the
scheme. Before a first visit, the contractor makes a
preliminary visit to assess the scale of the job, the
access method and any unusual health and safety
problems before issuing a quote. The decision to
accept the quote or not rests with the parish.
There is a simple agreement between parish and
contractor that is prepared at the outset of the
scheme, and there is also a standard gutterclear
specification which contractors work to.
The contractor may use a powered access platform
(cherry picker) or ladders, or a combination
of both. a feature of the scheme has been the
suitability of modern cherry pickers for this work.
contractors may quote for clearing gutters on other
buildings such as church halls or changing inaccessible
light bulbs (cherry pickers can also operate inside
churches). contractors can also be asked to apply
smartwater to vulnerable materials such as lead during
the visit so that the material can be traced if stolen.
The visit can also be used to allow church
architects or surveyors to inspect high-level
parts of the building. This is particularly useful
in the run up to quinquennial inspections.
Note: GutterClear is open to places of worship of all faiths
and denominations. Eight non-Anglican places of worship
have already joined the scheme, and in this report ‘church’
is used as a shorthand for places of worship of all kinds.
Published by Maintain our Heritage with the help of Cathedral Communications Limited, May 2011tHe value of Maintenance
Preventative maintenance – work such as clearing gutters and downpipes and inspecting the outside of a building – will reduce the likelihood of decay. Without it, a building can deteriorate with alarming speed. Modest spending on regular maintenance is highly cost-effective because it reduces the need for more expensive repairs: prevention is better than cure. It will also prevent or reduce the loss of original fabric, and so helps preserve the cultural value of an old building. Major repair problems involving extensive replacement of building fabric are often the result of neglect. In other words, money is wasted on work that could have been avoided. This principle applies to almost all buildings – churches, houses, schools, commercial buildings and so on. Maintenance is especially important in the case of churches where the lifespan of the building is indefinite and the cultural value of the fabric is high. The Diocese of London found that if a church doesn’t clear out its gutters for five years, (which costs about £250 a year plus VAT), the resulting repair bill is never less than £25,000 and often a lot more.
Joining GutterClear will save your church community lots of money, time, organisation and worry. How? • You spend far less on repairs, because you avoid a lot of expensive defects. • There are the savings of time and energy (you won’t have to arrange fundraising, committee meetings, grant applications and liaison with architects, diocese, local authority and contractors, for repairs you have avoided). • There’s the peace of mind – when it’s raining hard, you won’t be worrying whether the gutters can cope, or whether there will be a puddle of rainwater to deal with just before a service, unusable hymn books or a ruined carpet. extract from gutterclear leaflet
Making Maintenance easy
gutterclear is a path-finding scheme to
keep churches in the gloucestershire area
in good condition.
well over one hundred churches have taken
part so far. The scheme has shown that such
a maintenance service is needed, can be run
successfully and is valued by its customers.
this report celebrates the first three
years of gutterclear, highlighting its
achievements and the lessons to be learnt.
the key message is that a scheme for
places of worship like this can happen
anywhere. gutterclear has pioneered
a process that can easily be replicated.
all it needs is a kick-start. after that a
scheme will pretty much look after itself.
Debris removeD from one visit incluDeD: • two elder and one ash sapling • one two-pound claw hammer • one metal eaves bracket • a very large quantity of rotting leaf matter and other fine debris. not surprisingly, a number of gutters and downpipes had long ceased to carry rainwater away properly and some resulting stone damage was evident. by the end of the day-long clearance all the gutters, hopper heads and downpipes were operating fully – as part of the job they were checked by flushing with water. Gutterclear enjoys very high satisfaction levels from clients who have used the services and from those who have taken up a quote. The administration of the scheme was judged to be very good and the contractors who carried out the work were identified as efficient and professional. Those who had used the service gained added value from the report, which in 50 per cent of cases identified further repair needs. overall, Gutterclear has a very good reputation.
Market research commissioned by gutterclear
wHat cHurcHes say
aBout gutterclear
“my Pcc was doubtful at first, but eventually agreed to give it a try. The visit was easy to organise and professional and showed us just how fast gutters and downpipes can get blocked. now it’s a routine visit, just like servicing the boiler.”
revd Pat Phillips,
redmarley group of parishes
“As we have a most difficult church (in respect of height) and a lot of trouble with nesting jackdaws and pigeons, this arrangement is a ‘God-send’ to us churchwardens here ! ”
andrew Pemberton, churchwarden, st Mary’s, woodchester
“The photos and report identified a major problem with the slates and top of the parapet wall of the lady chapel, invisible from the ground. repairs costing several hundred pounds were initiated and undoubtedly saved a massive repair bill for the lady chapel roof in a few years’ time.”
John davis, administrator, st george’s, nailsworth
“We didn’t even know that a tree was growing in that inaccessible and sheltered spot in the gutter. it just goes to show what the equipment can cope with. Just imagine what structural damage those tree roots could have done in time ! ”
gordon norris, finance officer,
rc church of the annunciation, inchbrook
costs
The cost depends on the size and complexity of the building. A visit to an average rural church costs about £300, while large and complex city churches may cost twice that. (The costs of projects carried out so far have ranged from £150 to £900, the average being £300.) VAT is additional, but for the time being this can often be reclaimed through the Listed Places of Worship scheme. GutterClear visits by a contractor are not subsidised: the parish bears the full cost of the work done, but no more. Although setting up the scheme and providing some central administration and marketing in the first three years did incur costs, these were not recovered from those using the service, as the scheme had the generous support of a number of private donors and of a grant from English Heritage. GutterClear has now developed to a point where it can function without further subsidy or centralised administration.
ProMotion
GutterClear is marketed through a dedicated website (www.gutterclear.org) and by mailshots of a printed leaflet outlining the benefits of the scheme. The scheme has also been supported by press coverage, articles in diocesan publications and exposure at various conferences and events. A number of visits have been advertised to nearby churches as demonstration events and the scheme’s benefits have also spread effectively by word-of-mouth. GutterClear was inaugurated with a demonstration gutter clearance and launch ceremony with a national speaker. In year two, when the credit crunch was depressing take-up, an incentive was offered: up to 50 churches could claim a £100 grant towards the cost.
take-uP target
GutterClear aimed to get 50 per cent of CofE churches to take up the service or to adopt similar practices. About 25 per cent of churches have taken up the service and a similar percentage of churches adopt similar practices (some had pre-existing arrangements with contractors, some manage with members of the congregation doing the work). The scheme thus met its target after three years.
GutterClear is successful, but not yet a roaring success. The scheme is likely to continue to grow, but a significant minority of churches leave things to chance, even with the scheme making maintenance easy to arrange. They call in a builder when a problem arises. By being merely reactive, they are missing the benefits of the systematic preventative maintenance that GutterClear brings.
attitudes to Maintenance
GutterClear demonstrates how difficult it is to tackle some of the underlying causes of poor maintenance: ignorance, inertia and a long-established, almost institutionalised resistance to maintenance. GutterClear will take years, perhaps decades, to win wholehearted and widespread support to embed good maintenance practices.
More vigorous encouragement and monitoring of maintenance practices by church leaders would help. Grant providers could do more to advance maintenance by looking at the record of maintenance before they award a grant, and by ensuring maintenance is carried out afterwards. Most of all, greater leadership and example is needed from central and local government and bodies such as English Heritage to make the case for maintenance. Maintain our Heritage’s earlier report, Putting it Off , gives a set of recommendations that are still relevant. The Diocese of Gloucester and maintain our Heritage wish to express their profound thanks to the donors, those who introduced the donors to the scheme, and to english Heritage for making the scheme possible. not only is the scheme maintaining over 100 churches in good condition (and reducing the burden of repair costs) but it is also paving the way for comparable initiatives elsewhere.
strengtHs of tHe scHeMe
The sheer amount of detritus and foreign objects being removed from church gutters amply demonstrates the need for the service.
GutterClear has proven that it is possible to set up and run a scheme that makes maintenance easy.
For congregations, there is a choice of reliable and competent contractors and an appropriate specification for the work. They also have the assurance of the involvement of the diocese and support for the scheme from outside bodies such as Maintain our Heritage and English Heritage.
GutterClear shows that suitable contractors for this type of service can be recruited from the building and access trades. The scheme also shows that it is possible to devise a pricing structure to make the work affordable and attractive to congregations, but also profitable for the contractor. (Greater take-up would have generated more economies of scale but even at the moderate level achieved so far the scheme runs without subsidy.)
The participating churches are satisfied with the service and many have written to us to say so (see above). The scheme has established a good reputation for reliability and value for money.
looking forward
GutterClear was conceived as a model as well as a live scheme and the principles behind it could be adopted throughout the UK.
Maintain our Heritage will be glad to help those contemplating a maintenance scheme. Successor schemes need not reinvent the wheel: set up costs, in fact, will be lower for those who use GutterClear’s specification and contract as a model, and other material such as leaflets could at least be a starting point. Now that the initial three-year period has been completed, this report will further help others to see what can be done. At the same time, material has been added to the GutterClear website to help others who wish to set up similar schemes. Encouragingly, Anglican dioceses elsewhere have already shown interest in the scheme without any formal promotion having taken place.
The scheme is for places of worship but the experience is useful for everyone concerned with looking after buildings. Maintain our Heritage believes that there is a market opportunity for similar services aimed at houses, schools, public buildings, commercial properties and others. It’s an opportunity not only for builders but for operators of the access equipment that makes maintenance easier than it used to be.
related initiatives
A scheme similar to GutterClear has been in operation in London since 2006. There is also a scheme operating in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. GutterClear has exchanged information with both schemes.
GutterClear has established links with The Churches Conservation Trust, the National Churches Trust, and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (whose Faith in Maintenance initiative helps volunteers who look after historic places of worship) and others. Maintain our Heritage is a member of POW (Places of Worship at the Heritage Alliance). GutterClear features in English Heritage’s Inspired! campaign.
GutterClear
Salt crystallisation on an interior wall may be the most obvious effect of the overflow from a blocked gutter or hopper above. Inspecting the roof timbers above may reveal far more serious consequences. (Photo: Rachel Bower, Faith in Maintenance)
tHe value of Maintenance
Preventative maintenance – work such as clearing gutters and downpipes and inspecting the outside of a building – will reduce the likelihood of decay. Without it, a building can deteriorate with alarming speed. Modest spending on regular maintenance is highly cost-effective because it reduces the need for more expensive repairs: prevention is better than cure. It will also prevent or reduce the loss of original fabric, and so helps preserve the cultural value of an old building. Major repair problems involving extensive replacement of building fabric are often the result of neglect. In other words, money is wasted on work that could have been avoided. This principle applies to almost all buildings – churches, houses, schools, commercial buildings and so on. Maintenance is especially important in the case of churches where the lifespan of the building is indefinite and the cultural value of the fabric is high. The Diocese of London found that if a church doesn’t clear out its gutters for five years, (which costs about £250 a year plus VAT), the resulting repair bill is never less than £25,000 and often a lot more.
Joining GutterClear will save your church community lots of money, time, organisation and worry. How? • You spend far less on repairs, because you avoid a lot of expensive defects. • There are the savings of time and energy (you won’t have to arrange fundraising, committee meetings, grant applications and liaison with architects, diocese, local authority and contractors, for repairs you have avoided). • There’s the peace of mind – when it’s raining hard, you won’t be worrying whether the gutters can cope, or whether there will be a puddle of rainwater to deal with just before a service, unusable hymn books or a ruined carpet. extract from gutterclear leaflet
Making Maintenance easy
gutterclear is a path-finding scheme to
keep churches in the gloucestershire area
in good condition.
well over one hundred churches have taken
part so far. The scheme has shown that such
a maintenance service is needed, can be run
successfully and is valued by its customers.
this report celebrates the first three
years of gutterclear, highlighting its
achievements and the lessons to be learnt.
the key message is that a scheme for
places of worship like this can happen
anywhere. gutterclear has pioneered
a process that can easily be replicated.
all it needs is a kick-start. after that a
scheme will pretty much look after itself.
Debris removeD from one visit incluDeD: • two elder and one ash sapling • one two-pound claw hammer • one metal eaves bracket • a very large quantity of rotting leaf matter and other fine debris. not surprisingly, a number of gutters and downpipes had long ceased to carry rainwater away properly and some resulting stone damage was evident. by the end of the day-long clearance all the gutters, hopper heads and downpipes were operating fully – as part of the job they were checked by flushing with water. Gutterclear enjoys very high satisfaction levels from clients who have used the services and from those who have taken up a quote. The administration of the scheme was judged to be very good and the contractors who carried out the work were identified as efficient and professional. Those who had used the service gained added value from the report, which in 50 per cent of cases identified further repair needs. overall, Gutterclear has a very good reputation.
Market research commissioned by gutterclear
wHat cHurcHes say
aBout gutterclear
“my Pcc was doubtful at first, but eventually agreed to give it a try. The visit was easy to organise and professional and showed us just how fast gutters and downpipes can get blocked. now it’s a routine visit, just like servicing the boiler.”
revd Pat Phillips,
redmarley group of parishes
“As we have a most difficult church (in respect of height) and a lot of trouble with nesting jackdaws and pigeons, this arrangement is a ‘God-send’ to us churchwardens here ! ”
andrew Pemberton, churchwarden, st Mary’s, woodchester
“The photos and report identified a major problem with the slates and top of the parapet wall of the lady chapel, invisible from the ground. repairs costing several hundred pounds were initiated and undoubtedly saved a massive repair bill for the lady chapel roof in a few years’ time.”
John davis, administrator, st george’s, nailsworth
“We didn’t even know that a tree was growing in that inaccessible and sheltered spot in the gutter. it just goes to show what the equipment can cope with. Just imagine what structural damage those tree roots could have done in time ! ”
gordon norris, finance officer,
rc church of the annunciation, inchbrook
costs
The cost depends on the size and complexity of the building. A visit to an average rural church costs about £300, while large and complex city churches may cost twice that. (The costs of projects carried out so far have ranged from £150 to £900, the average being £300.) VAT is additional, but for the time being this can often be reclaimed through the Listed Places of Worship scheme. GutterClear visits by a contractor are not subsidised: the parish bears the full cost of the work done, but no more. Although setting up the scheme and providing some central administration and marketing in the first three years did incur costs, these were not recovered from those using the service, as the scheme had the generous support of a number of private donors and of a grant from English Heritage. GutterClear has now developed to a point where it can function without further subsidy or centralised administration.
ProMotion
GutterClear is marketed through a dedicated website (www.gutterclear.org) and by mailshots of a printed leaflet outlining the benefits of the scheme. The scheme has also been supported by press coverage, articles in diocesan publications and exposure at various conferences and events. A number of visits have been advertised to nearby churches as demonstration events and the scheme’s benefits have also spread effectively by word-of-mouth. GutterClear was inaugurated with a demonstration gutter clearance and launch ceremony with a national speaker. In year two, when the credit crunch was depressing take-up, an incentive was offered: up to 50 churches could claim a £100 grant towards the cost.
take-uP target
GutterClear aimed to get 50 per cent of CofE churches to take up the service or to adopt similar practices. About 25 per cent of churches have taken up the service and a similar percentage of churches adopt similar practices (some had pre-existing arrangements with contractors, some manage with members of the congregation doing the work). The scheme thus met its target after three years.
GutterClear is successful, but not yet a roaring success. The scheme is likely to continue to grow, but a significant minority of churches leave things to chance, even with the scheme making maintenance easy to arrange. They call in a builder when a problem arises. By being merely reactive, they are missing the benefits of the systematic preventative maintenance that GutterClear brings.
attitudes to Maintenance
GutterClear demonstrates how difficult it is to tackle some of the underlying causes of poor maintenance: ignorance, inertia and a long-established, almost institutionalised resistance to maintenance. GutterClear will take years, perhaps decades, to win wholehearted and widespread support to embed good maintenance practices.
More vigorous encouragement and monitoring of maintenance practices by church leaders would help. Grant providers could do more to advance maintenance by looking at the record of maintenance before they award a grant, and by ensuring maintenance is carried out afterwards. Most of all, greater leadership and example is needed from central and local government and bodies such as English Heritage to make the case for maintenance. Maintain our Heritage’s earlier report, Putting it Off , gives a set of recommendations that are still relevant. The Diocese of Gloucester and maintain our Heritage wish to express their profound thanks to the donors, those who introduced the donors to the scheme, and to english Heritage for making the scheme possible. not only is the scheme maintaining over 100 churches in good condition (and reducing the burden of repair costs) but it is also paving the way for comparable initiatives elsewhere.
strengtHs of tHe scHeMe
The sheer amount of detritus and foreign objects being removed from church gutters amply demonstrates the need for the service.
GutterClear has proven that it is possible to set up and run a scheme that makes maintenance easy.
For congregations, there is a choice of reliable and competent contractors and an appropriate specification for the work. They also have the assurance of the involvement of the diocese and support for the scheme from outside bodies such as Maintain our Heritage and English Heritage.
GutterClear shows that suitable contractors for this type of service can be recruited from the building and access trades. The scheme also shows that it is possible to devise a pricing structure to make the work affordable and attractive to congregations, but also profitable for the contractor. (Greater take-up would have generated more economies of scale but even at the moderate level achieved so far the scheme runs without subsidy.)
The participating churches are satisfied with the service and many have written to us to say so (see above). The scheme has established a good reputation for reliability and value for money.
looking forward
GutterClear was conceived as a model as well as a live scheme and the principles behind it could be adopted throughout the UK.
Maintain our Heritage will be glad to help those contemplating a maintenance scheme. Successor schemes need not reinvent the wheel: set up costs, in fact, will be lower for those who use GutterClear’s specification and contract as a model, and other material such as leaflets could at least be a starting point. Now that the initial three-year period has been completed, this report will further help others to see what can be done. At the same time, material has been added to the GutterClear website to help others who wish to set up similar schemes. Encouragingly, Anglican dioceses elsewhere have already shown interest in the scheme without any formal promotion having taken place.
The scheme is for places of worship but the experience is useful for everyone concerned with looking after buildings. Maintain our Heritage believes that there is a market opportunity for similar services aimed at houses, schools, public buildings, commercial properties and others. It’s an opportunity not only for builders but for operators of the access equipment that makes maintenance easier than it used to be.
related initiatives
A scheme similar to GutterClear has been in operation in London since 2006. There is also a scheme operating in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. GutterClear has exchanged information with both schemes.
GutterClear has established links with The Churches Conservation Trust, the National Churches Trust, and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (whose Faith in Maintenance initiative helps volunteers who look after historic places of worship) and others. Maintain our Heritage is a member of POW (Places of Worship at the Heritage Alliance). GutterClear features in English Heritage’s Inspired! campaign.
GutterClear
Salt crystallisation on an interior wall may be the most obvious effect of the overflow from a blocked gutter or hopper above. Inspecting the roof timbers above may reveal far more serious consequences. (Photo: Rachel Bower, Faith in Maintenance)
Maintain our Heritage
Maintain our Heritage and
tHe diocese of gloucester
GutterClear was set up in 2007 by the Diocese of Gloucester in collaboration with Maintain our Heritage. The scheme in fact grew out of a pilot historic building maintenance scheme based in Bath, mounted by Maintain our Heritage, which was taken up by a number of churches south of Gloucester. Maintain then carried out a survey of churchwardens in the diocese and found significant interest in a simple preventive maintenance service for churches.
Maintain our Heritage and the Diocese of Gloucester worked together to plan and run the scheme. A small project board of representatives of both partner bodies guides the joint venture.
The diocese has just under 400 parish churches, most of which are listed buildings. Each parish is responsible for the upkeep of the fabric of its buildings but the diocese has a strong interest in helping parishes to care for them.
Maintain our Heritage is a not-for-profit company set up by a group of architects, surveyors and conservationists to campaign for better maintenance practices, and to put their ideas into practice.
gutterclear today
The scheme continues to operate. Places of worship in the Gloucestershire area may join at any time. For further information on the scheme now, please see www.gutterclear.org or enquire by email – [email protected] – or telephone 01452 835527.
furtHer inforMation
For further information on GutterClear, past and present, and how to benefit from it as a model, Maintain our Heritage will be happy to help. The website www.gutterclear.org gives more details and enquiries may be addressed to Timothy Cantell, Maintain Project Coordinator:
Maintain our Heritage
Weymouth House, Beechen Cliff, Bath BA2 4QS
Tel 01225 482228 Mobile 07974 674639
[email protected]
The first Three years
A typical cherrypicker used by GutterClear: its compact form allows it to move in narrow and and awkward spaces, through lych gates, along churchyard paths and around memorials. Yet, when fully extended it has a reach of up to 23 metres vertically, and an operating radius of up to 11 metres.
