Urgent repairs are needed for Ipswich’s St Lawrence Church, with costs exceeding £280,000 due to structural issues.
But the outside needs some serious work. It’s falling apart! They approved plans for repairs in December, based on a surveyor’s estimate. A council report says it will cost over £280,000.
Neil MacDonald said parts of the tower could fall. This could really hurt someone! Scaffolding is there to protect people for now, a cost that the project is paying for. This adds to the budget strain.
Architects finally made drawings in June 2024. Then, a surveyor estimated costs, which is where the £280,000 price came from. A protection scaffold is already up, and they got three bids for the repair job.
They hope to start fixing it this month. The goal is to finish by October. Back in the 70s, nobody lived nearby, so they closed the church. It became unused.
But, the councils restored it in 2006 together. They made it a community center, paying for the whole project alone, and it became useful again later on.