Refurbishing Harvington rectory

The Clergy Housing team at the diocesan office support clergy living in diocesan-owned vicarages, solving any maintenance issues with their homes and preparing the vicarages for the new incumbent during a vacancy.

The team have recently worked on Harvington Rectory following the departure of the Rector there after 24 years in post. Glenn Reading had been appointed as the new Rector and the team had just three months to prepare the house before Glenn and his family moved in.

Diocesan Director of Property, Ruth Beard said: “We met the previous Rector and his wife before they moved out to understand what they liked and disliked about the property and where improvements might be made. It became clear that the house needed to be completely redecorated, and new windows and doors fitted. I also realised that the heating system was quite dated, so in line with our net-zero Carbon ambitions we decided to install a heat pump along with some solar panels.”

Ruth and her team met with Glenn to understand the particular needs of his family. As a result of this meeting, they arranged for a small downstairs cloakroom to be turned into a shower room and cleared out fitted wardrobes in one of the bedrooms to create more space for Glenn’s children.

Glenn said: “We were aware that the house needed freshening up after a long incumbency and are grateful for all the work that has been done. We were able to choose our paint colours and flooring and Ruth and her team really listened to what we needed. They were very patient with all our questions and queries and from our perspective everything has gone very smoothly.”

Once a property becomes vacant, the Clergy Housing team liaises with the parish and churchwardens regarding their responsibilities and arranges for keys to be handed over. The team also deal with the utilities which are taken on during the vacancy, and they put a clear plan in place to enable any work to be completed.

Clergy Housing Officer, Jaine Simm will normally act as the project manager. She said: “We arrange to get quotes for any work that needs doing and will put timescales in place, managing the relationship with the contractors so that everyone knows what is happening when and ensuring work is completed in a sensible order. It is often quite a jigsaw puzzle making sure things happen at the right time. We also sort out any problems that inevitably occur to try to keep the timeline on track!”

The refurbishment of Harvington Rectory was unusual for its short timescale. Often there is more time between the house being vacated and a new clergy person moving in, with some of the work on the house needing to be done before the new person is appointed.

“There might be some things we can’t do, but we always try to meet the needs of those who will be living in the house if we can,” continued Ruth. “If that person isn’t yet appointed, we’ll liaise with the parish to make sure they’re happy with any work being done on the house. Harvington Rectory has been an interesting project because we’ve been able to do so much in such a short space of time, and I’m really pleased with how the team has pulled together to enable that to happen.”