Information about St Mary Redcliffe's major facilities development initiative, Project 450.

Project 450 Facilities Development

Creating a vision for the future

St Mary Redcliffe is a magnificent and historically significant church which provides a wonderful setting for Christian worship and, as an embodiment of local, national and international heritage, attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year from all over the world.

However, it is also generally recognised that the current church building is ill-equipped to support all of the activities associated with a major parish church, community facility, heritage attraction and event space in the 21st Century.

The project was founded in the need to make the church accessible. Currently the main entrance, toilets and cafe are reached by multiple flights of steps, which means they are inaccessible to mobility impaired people. The project aims to improve access for all, to create an accessible church building which is reflective of the church's values of fairness, inclusivity and compassion.

For some years, the church has been working towards a large scale redevelopment of its facilities and has built a body of assessments and studies to ensure that the project is well considered and founded on need.

This body of research is available to view and can be accessed here.

In 2016, the church ran an architecture competition to appoint a team of professionals to work with the church on realising its ambition to be:

thriving, inclusive Christian community
recognised, welcoming heritage destination
church that makes a difference in the parish
a progressive and sustainable organisation

Following the competition, an architect was appointed to work with the church on what has come to be known as Project 450, because the initial target completion date of 2024 would have coincided with 450 years since Queen Elizabeth I's 1574 visit to Bristol, during which she is supposed to have referred to the church as, "The Fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England."

Due to uncertainty caused by Covid the project has been significantly delayed, but work continues to develop a strong proposal for new facilities that will enable the church to fulfil its objectives during the coming years and ensure St Mary Redcliffe is fully sustainable in the future..

DOWNLOAD PROJECT SUMMARY DOWNLOAD PROJECT OVERVIEW DOWNLOAD PROJECT BROCHURE P40 STUDIES

Project 450

Creating a vision for the future

For some years, the church has been gathering information in preparation for a large scale redevelopment of its facilities. This body of research is available to view and can be accessed here.

In 2016, the church ran an architecture competition to appoint a team of professionals to work with the church on realising its ambition to be:

a thriving, inclusive Christian community
a recognised, welcoming heritage destination
a church that makes a difference in the parish
a progressive and sustainable organisation

Following the competition, architecture firm Purcell, was appointed to work with the church on Project 450.

The project is called Project 450, since the initial target completion date of 2024 would have coincided with 450 years since Queen Elizabeth I's 1574 visit to Bristol, during which she is supposed to have referred to the church as, "The Fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England."

Since then the project team at the church has been working with Lead Architect Dan Talkes to develop a strong proposal for the new facilities.

Project updates

RIBA 2-3 Design Review

By Rhys Williams • May 21, 2021

Read the RIBA 2-3 Design Review that took place in December 2020.

Development proposals for St Mary Redcliffe Church

Project 450 Planning Pre-App Submitted

By Rhys Williams • November 17, 2020

St Mary Redcliffe has recently submitted a planning pre-app for Project 450 - the church's facilities development project.

Concept sketch by architect Dan Talkes for new facilities at St Mary Redcliffe Church

Project 450 RIBA Stage Two Report

By Rhys Williams • May 6, 2020

In 2019, Lead Architect Dan Talkes produced a Project 450 RIBA 2 Stage End Report, providing further detail on the emerging plans for new buildings at St Mary Redcliffe.