St Andrews Church

Duke Bar, Burnley, Lancashire

St Andrews is a beautiful church designed in the Arts and Crafts style and built over about 20 years. In 1898 dry rot was found in the timber floor of the nave. That led to the infilling of the underfloor void with slag from a local coal mine, overlaid with a concrete slab. Unfortunately, the slag had a high concentration of sulphur dioxide that expanded with moisture, causing bumps in the floor.

To overcome this, a new insulated floor is proposed to be set on piles. Underfloor heating will allow small areas of the church to be independently heated to accommodate play groups, film screenings and other small-scale activities ensuring flexible use of the space and community relevance into the future. This will also greatly improve energy efficiency and comfort.

The floor design is based upon John, chapter 3, verse 16. taken from the Tyndale bible.

‘For God so loveth the world, that he hath given his only son, that none that believe in him, should perish: but should have everlasting life.’

The verse is laid into the stone floor in a circle at the point in the cruciform plan corresponding to Christ’s bodily wound. From this emanates a pattern of concentric stone circles set within a plain stone matrix. The patterns in the stone suggest a woven texture inspired by the idea of the universe as a space time fabric representing the body of Christ.