The Tabernacle, Kingswood
Brought back from ruins, the Grade I Listed Tabernacle is being prepared for its next phase of life as a Creative and Community Hub for Kingswood.
Bricks were appointed to undertake a cultural viability assessment and develop a robust creative strategy for this regeneration project, which took into account the varied local aspirations and needs for the building.
The Trust are now taking these recommendations forward and working up plans for the next stage of the redevelopment process.
Clients
Whitfield Tabernacle Trust, South Gloucestershire Council and West of England Combined Authority
Local Authority
South Gloucestershire District Council
Years
Summer 2021 to Spring 2023
Address
What is The Tabernacle?
Built in 1748, the Tabernacle is a building rich in history. Originally used as a meeting house and a school for the local community, it is widely regarded as the birthplace of Methodism and is sited in the heart of Kingswood, Bristol.
It formally closed in 1983, after the Methodist congregation dwindled and the building then suffered an arson attack which left the building in ruins. In 2017, the Whitfield Tabernacle Trust started early work to adopt, stabilise and eventually restore the building as a local community asset.
Creative Strategy Development
In summer 2021 Bricks worked with the Trust to review the creative and community opportunities for the site, including past consultation work. Then followed a period of building work where the Grade I Listed heritage site was strengthened, reinforced, and weatherproofed. Bricks then undertook local community consultation against a wider consultation programme for the regeneration of Kingswood High Street, to review the creative opportunities for the building and land around it.
We responded to local people’s aspirations and the Trust to develop an ambitious, sustainable, locally relevant, exciting and creative vision for the Tabernacle when it opens to the public.
The creative strategy puts the building’s redevelopment at the heart of the revitalisation of Kingswood’s high street, and will evolve the site’s historic Methodist use as a teaching and meeting space to a non-denominational focal point for arts, education and heritage in Kingswood.
What happens now?
The Tabernacle has now emerged from its scaffolding and is a refreshed, rendered, glazed and water tight heritage structure. While work is still needed to the finalise the internal spaces, the building is well on its way to being a valued community space for arts, education, and heritage for Kingswood.
The Trust are now finalising plans for the internal layout with the architect before the next stage of building work and these plans will draw on the responses received from local people and the creative strategy developed by Bricks.
