Supporting Statement

APPENDIX II – SUPPORTING STATEMENT

The Overall Cathedral Site and Strategy for Development

Prepared by The Very Revd. Nigel Godfrey

• 1.0 Cathedral use A modern Cathedral has a variety of uses with flexibility as to how it uses its spaces and buildings.

Cathedral Isle of Man is a very new institution and was formerly simply the parish church of Peel. The Cathedral now has ‘all Island responsibilities’ and as such the kind of uses you would expect to find at a contemporary Cathedral site would include, beside the obvious ‘church facilities’, the following:

•  Landscaped gardens and parking
•  Resource hub including adult training space, library and conference facilities
•  Visitor/Welcome centre with toilet facilities
•  Retail outlet and Refectory
•  ‘Learning-outside-the-classroom’ school facilities associated with the Cathedral education department
•  Offices for Cathedral staff (currently 9 desk spaces required and growing)
•  The Cathedral ‘Close’ staff, guest and residential accommodation
•  Song School with practice rooms and music library etc.

In ancient Cathedrals these uses were often slotted into the old monastic ruins. The overwhelming number of Anglican Cathedrals are ancient monasteries. You will observe that even our Ancient Cathedral on St Patrick’s Isle has the ruins of significant accommodation next to it which originally served the canons of the Cathedral.

Cathedral Isle of Man has aspirations to meet the demands of a 21stCentury Cathedral in the same way as its 43 sister Cathedrals in the Church of England.

• 2.0 Cathedral Office and Housing Two examples in England of residential and office accommodation associated with Cathedrals (contemporary and ancient) are given in Appendix 1.

All English Cathedrals have these kind of demands made on their sites, indeed two English Cathedrals have their own hotels with their precincts (Leicester and Canterbury) one old building (Leicester) and one new building (Canterbury) Appendix 2 .

Cathedral Isle of Man plans to implement proposals to create the above facilities within the Cathedral Close. In addition the policy of the Church of England is to be carbon-neutral by 2030. So while increasing activity and footfall on site we must also reduce our carbon footprint.

The last phase of the jigsaw that requires planning consent is developing the first floor level of the Corrin Hall (Phase 2) as a staff hub and accommodation for interns.

What we require:

•  Open Office space a minimum of 8 desks using a ‘hot desk’ policy together with space for: photocopier guillotine, laminating equipment, paper and print storage, archives, Reference books, filing cabinets, monitoring screens to view site (All equipment is available).
•  Interview/meeting room for up to 10 people for staff meetings
•  Toilet facilities
•  Kitchen area and common room/lounge to service offices, interns and residential guests
•  Four study-bedrooms with en-suites for the interns .
•  The whole building to be as carbon neutral as possible, including photo-voltaic roof tiles on the main roof, increased insulation, air-source heat pumps and underfloor heating
•  Chair lift to the first floor

• 3.0 Who are the residents? Music Staff For a modern Cathedral to function it is normal to have a music department consisting of: Director of Music, Assistant Organist, Music Outreach Worker, Organ scholar. In total this would represent 3 full-time equivalent workers. To accommodate this, 3 housing units will be available in the new planning approved ‘Cloister’ (PA:14/00066/GB) to the south of Cathedral, for one musician, one priest and the head verger/premises manager. The foundations of the building have already been constructed.

Clergy Staff

A Cathedral as a minimum has a Dean and two residentiary Canons. Apart from their specialist functions they ensure the daily routine of worship, normally three services a day. The Cathedral also has a Curate and normally 3 ministry interns. It is a matter of prioritising who are able to live on site. Currently two houses are owned by the Cathedral: Albany Road (5 bed), The Grove (3 bed). All this accommodation if full of staff serving the Cathedral.

In Corrin Hall the aim will be to create four study-bedrooms for a combination of ministry interns/organ scholars/lay clerks (i.e. those who sing in the regular choral services) and guests. All these volunteers are on 11 month contracts from September to July each year. This will provide bespoke accommodation for the needs of this group of young people typically 18-25 year olds.

Other Staff

Office space is required for the finance department (5 people), The Dean, PA and Administrator and work space for each heads of Departments: Central Services; Hospitality and Pastoral Care; Infrastructure; Liturgy & Worship; Mission, Education & Training; Youth & Children’s Work (Music office space is provide already in the Song School). Hot desking will be required.

Appendix 1 – Residential and Office Accommodation

New Accommodation: Blackburn Cathedral: 21st Century Residential Accommodation for Canons etc and offices

Ancient Accommodation: Wells Cathedral: Medieval Vicars Close

• Appendix 2 Hotels in Cathedral Precincts New Hotel: Canterbury i.e. 21st century: Canterbury Cathedral Lodge http://www.booking.com/canterbury/cathedral_lodge

Older Hotel i.e. 20th century building (Leicester) Cathedral Precinct St Martins Lodge – Leicester Cathedral