Parish Council update on proposed modifications to Our Lady’s church, Currie. June 2026
Under the leadership of Fr Francis, it’s been great to see that our congregation has grown significantly in recent years, and with that in mind the Parish Council has spent a lot of time examining the potential to make modifications to the interior of our church, in order to make better use of the space for parish and community activities.
A significant proportion of the ground area of the church consists of the Lady Chapel, adjacent to the Nave, which is rarely used for services. The Parish Council therefore propose to combine the Lady Chapel with the existing Hall, through the introduction of a wide door in the wall separating those two parts of the church. This would form a new extended Hall, which would greatly enhance our opportunity to enjoy parish and community events and activities. In addition, we plan to install a new Accessible Toilet, to satisfy Equality Act requirements, and this will be positioned next to the existing Toilet, thereby taking up some of the space in the existing Hall. The existing Toilet and the Tea Preparation area will also both be refurbished. These latter areas have been identified through recent Health & Safety reviews as in need of improvement, to avoid the parish contravening Health and Safety standards.
The proposed project scope also includes several other features; the introduction of a new Storage area near the front entrance, so that the former Confessional areas currently used for storage can instead be included as part of the new Hall; a new external door to be installed on the Curriehill Road side of the Lady Chapel to allow access from outside to the new Hall; and the introduction of steps, handrails and temporary ramps at various points of entry into the new extended Hall area. All of the proposed modifications would be within the existing footprint of the church, and would not require any extension to the building. That said, building warrants and permissions would need to be obtained in due course.
The Parish Council has used the services of a professional buildings surveyor, Adams Napier Partnership, throughout our discussions over the past two years, and they have provided us with drawings of the proposed new floor plan, together with cost estimates.
In order to get to this stage with this project, we have already requested and received budgetary approval from the Archdiocesan Trustees, who monitor all expenditure across the Archdiocese. The sale of the former Church House for this parish generated funds which are retained at the Archdiocesan level, and this no doubt was a factor in us receiving significant budgetary support. However, the approval we have received is conditional on the parish seeking to raise in the region of 15% of the anticipated full cost. That is estimated to be in the region of £20k to 25k.
As a parish, we would need to consider ways to raise this additional income through fundraising, donations, and seeking Grants. With regard to the Grants, the Parish Council has already submitted applications to several Trusts which focus on financial support to places of worship. We hope this may generate some funds to support this project, but it will undoubtedly be necessary to also do some of our own fundraising and to seek donations.
The next stage of this project will be to initiate a tendering process with building contractors, and then to inform the Archdiocesan Trustees of our preferred building contractor to do the modifications in the church. This will take until late this year to complete, and so the actual modifications to the church interior are not anticipated to take place until around Spring next year. Given that the modifications will not directly involve the main part of the church, we do not expect there to be any disruption to normal church services and masses during the building process next year.
At the heart of this project is a wish to open up the church for use in parish and community activities. These could include Youth meetings, Children’s liturgy, or for that matter mother and toddler groups, lunch clubs, or use by local community groups.
The Parish Council would really like to hear from parishioners, to get your views on how best the proposed new layout of the church might be used. Also, to answer any questions you might have, and to get your suggestions on fundraising for this project. The names of all your Parish Council members are shown on the notice board in the church foyer, and are also included on the parish website. So please take the time to speak to, or better still write down your suggestions and questions to one of us over the coming weeks.
Our parish celebrated its 60th anniversary in March of this year, and the proposed changes to the interior of the church aim to reflect that we are still growing and looking to the future, and planning to make our church more attractive and useful to our parishioners and visitors.
Further updates will be posted on the parish website as the project develops, and the Parish Council hope that all parishioners will join with them in supporting this exciting new development.
