Sanctuary Redevelopment Committee

Click URL below for AUC Redevelopement Photos: http://www.digitallightandmagic.ca/auc/index.htm 

IMPORTANT NOTICE RE:
LOCATION AND TIMES OF SERVICE

Work on sanctuary redevelopment started spring 2008.
For more details, see the March/April 2008 newsletter.

Below is an update from spring 2007, giving some of the details of this project, as it was envisioned.

UPDATE FOR SPRING 2007

Respectfully submitted by Frank Pulumbarit, Chair

To Aurora United Church Congregation May 31, 2007

Dear All,

Much exploratory work has been accomplished by the members of the Sanctuary Redevelopment Committee.  December to April have been fruitful months indeed. 

At this early stage of a potential building project, it is important that as many aspects of the project be as clear and well-known as possible.  To say that a building project will cost X or Y dollars is truly an unproductive guessing game until an intended design can be solidified and professionally costed.  Too often a project is contemplated and begun without proper feasibility and costing analysis completed, greatly increasing the risk that project will run over-budget, off-target or, in the worst case, without the current building code in mind.  The likelihood of overruns in time and resources in these cases is extremely high. 

Your Sanctuary Redevelopment team’s activity has been focused on eliminating as much of this risk up-front as possible, in order to create as certain a picture of scope, functionality, material, cost, and phasing/timing as possible.

To keep you up to date on our progress in this regard, we have included a summary presentation which may click on and view here.  This presentation includes our intended design idea, a progress overview from December 2006 to the end of April 2007.  Also listed are our intended next steps for communicating progress and soliciting your feedback.

Additional notes:

1) In Spring 2007, Frank Pulumbarit received a proposal from Black & Moffat Architects Inc. to conduct a feasibility study to determine the code and costing issues (if any) associated with one chosen design.  Please see the attached PowerPoint for the guiding principles which led our team to this design.  In summary,

• The Chancel would be widened slightly and an extension is to be added to the north side. 
• Choir risers would be moveable and collapsible to increase the flexibility of this area. 
• To accommodate the Chancel expansion, the front portions of the mezzanine rounded and opened to expose the first window fully. 
• This would open up sightlines to the widened Chancel greatly and flood the Sanctuary with light.  A sound booth would be located in the rear of the mezzanine on either the north or south side – this sound booth would provide greater control and innovation to our worship service and alleviate much of the manual overwork associated with the services’ AV management today.  Lighting, IT and AV will also be addressed by this feasibility study to see what the system should look like. 
• To accommodate the loss of capacity due to the change in Mezzanine shape, the rear of the Sanctuary would be moved back into the Narthex and additional seating would be installed in the expanded space.  The Narthex would be decreased in size to a more natural proportion with the Sanctuary as it is excessively large at this time, relative to its day to day usage.
• This design is to be studied with the current Ontario Building Code in mind, to determine its feasibility and changes, if any.

The cost of this feasibility study is $47,280 including GST.  BMA to project manage this and oversee speciality consultants (e.g. sound and lighting) to fulfill the requirements.  BMA has requested a $3,000 retainer to begin.  The Committee has agreed with this direction, and Crawford Heritage was tasked to present to Finance regarding funding availability and next steps.

2) Upon presentation, the Finance Committee approved the $47,280 spend and the release of the $3,000 retainer fee.  As the funds had already been earmarked for this purpose, this step gave us the Committee formal approval to proceed with BMA.

3) Frank Pulumbarit presented the above via PowerPoint to Council in early May and again received positive feedback to proceed.  While not technically required, due to Finance's approval to release funds, the Committee felt it prudent to communicate openly with Council before proceeding. 

4) After the positive responses from Council, Frank Pulumbarit and Crawford Heritage signed the contract with BMA to begin feasibility and costing analysis work.  The timeframe for this analysis is summer 2007.

Thanks to all who have been involved in this exciting work.  We will communicate progress again as more information comes in over the summer from BMA.

Warmest regards,

Frank Pulumbarit on behalf of the Sanctuary Redevelopment Committee

Respecting the Past- Building for the Future!

Here is the Sanctuary Redevelopment Survey !!

• To download file, right mouse click, and save target as 

• Fill out and return to church office.