Wotton Baptist Church is a lively, evangelical, charismatic church located in a thriving small town in the shadow of the Cotswolds. The Church building stood firm for centuries but needed extending. Due to the limited funds, Robert Smith Architects volunteered for the renovation project of this historical development and chose IKO Polymeric’s single ply membrane for the new roof.
Referred to as ‘The Link’, the building had an extension to connect the church, church hall, office areas, kitchen and the community centre via an entrance foyer formed as a single storey structure. The buildings being connected are listed as ‘Grade 2’ structures. ‘The Link’ uses new 21st century timber and glass to contrast with the historical building and complement its outstanding appearance using modern architectural vernacular.
Prior to The Link’s construction, the area was a derelict yard with buddleia growing from the walls. Daylight usage was a primary design consideration as the existing building had a well-structured façade allowing a lot of daylight in, so The Link was also built to replicate this.
Richard Smith of Smith Roberts Architects explains: “We were very keen for The Link to be a self-supporting structure with its own unique characteristics rather than being a just roof spanning between existing buildings.
Smith Roberts Architects specified IKO Polymeric for this project as the roof design had many penetrations at different angles and its IKO Spectraplan SG single ply membrane had the flexibility to accommodate the design requirements. To ensure the complex shape of the roof would drain, IKO enertherm Tapered Insulation scheme was utilised to direct the rain water to drainage points. The convenience of getting the whole roofing system from one single source was one of the reasons for Smith Roberts to choose IKO Polymeric.
Installed by Urban Roof, the new roof was completed in March 2017.