South Ealing Cemetery Chapels

Team

The professional team appointed to carry out the Options Appraisal:

Butler Hegarty Architects (Conservation Architects and Lead Consultants), Glevum Consulting (Heritage Business Planners), Hockley and Dawson (Consulting Engineers) and Sawyer and Fisher (Quantity Surveyors).

Project Costs

£28,000 (incl VAT)

The South Ealing Cemetery Chapels are Grade II listed buildings, and included on the Heritage at Risk Register due to their poor condition. In the ownership of Ealing Council, they have ceased operating as chapels, although the surrounding cemetery remains in use.

The chapels were completed in 1861 and were designed by Ealing Council’s first architect, surveyor and engineer, Charles Jones. The chapels are constructed of ragstone with limestone dressings. The north chapel was Non-Conformist and the south chapel, with a mortuary to the rear, was Church of England. They are connected by a central porte-cochere (carriage porch) which incorporates a belfry.

Historic England have been concerned about the condition of the buildings for some time, and were keen to see the Trust support the Council in finding a sustainable new use for them. Working in partnership with Ealing Council, we commissioned and oversaw the delivery of an Options Appraisal between January 2019 and September 2019.

Led by conservation architects, Butler Hegarty Architects, the study establishes the heritage significance of the site, the condition of the buildings, the repair costs, and a number of design options for their re-use based on feedback following a programme of community consultation. An outline business plan identifies the sustainability of each option. The community consultation process identified two potential end users for the buildings.

We’re currently reviewing the findings of this study to establish our next steps, and the feasibility of delivering a project at the site.

In September 2019 we opened up both chapels as part of London Open House. We held tours and talks throughout the day, supported by our lead consultants, Gary Butler and Claire Hegarty, and thoroughly enjoyed listening to feedback about our work to date from visitors.