Christ Church Highbury: Radiant panels and warm welcomes in Islington
On the top of Highbury Hill stands an impossibly quaint clocktower, pillar-box red, as if straight from the set of Camberwick Green. The clock was built in the 1800s to celebrate Victoria’s 60th year as queen. Christ Church Highbury, providing a picture-postcard backdrop to it, has not frozen in the time to match, however. This is a parish facing the future and Net Zero head on, whilst making their very warm welcome something of a feature.
The church has a courtyard which is lightly strewn with bistro tables, couples having a natter, and small children weaving their way in play. It provides an irresistible invitation to tarry a while with a latte and biscotti from the on-site café.
On one of the chairs sits Michele Paton, the parish Fabrics Manager. She is full of welcoming smiles as she takes me inside Christ Church, up a steep staircase, and into the lofty Angel Room. This wonderful space was created back in the 80’s. The high ceilings and stained glass windows are juxtaposed with seemingly miniature furniture, declaring the space to to be home to a Nursery School. What this room is not awash with, however, is insulation. Secondary glazing would obviously cost a fortune on the traditional stained-glass windows, and the roof is not insulated, as far as Michele knows – none of which is good news when young children spend all day here. It’s a familiar problem for parishes up and down the country. But rather than simply whack up the heating and wince at the bills, Christ Church have hit upon a far more elegant solution to their problems, in the form of Radiant Panels.
For those whose idea of radiant heat (or Infra-Red) is the bright orange coils of 1970s chippies, that seared your scalp as you waited for cod and chips, you’d be hard pressed to spot them here. It takes a few minutes to work out. “Are they the long, white rectangles either side of the stained-glass?” Michele nods with a satisfied smile, and points out another pair on the opposite side of the room, equally hidden in plain sight.
These panels are Far Infra-Red, a completely different end of the spectrum to their brightly glowing predecessors. This new generation of panels sends out gentle heat, that warms what it touches; it feels like sunshine. Each panel has a range of 5 meters, and they nearly touch at the centre of the room, although Michele admits there is still a slightly cold central spot.
It’s made a huge difference to the nursery, who really appreciate the change. The panels work in tandem with the existing radiator system, but whereas the heat from the radiators warms the actual air, which then circulates, soon to find itself dancing merrily around the rafters, the panels’ radiant heat travels in a straight line, cutting directly through the air and just heating whatever surface it happens upon – be that a toddler or a Formica table. The Radiant Heat is not affected by gravity or wafted by air currents; it’s so very reliable, and pretty much instant once turned on. A serious win for the Angel Room.
Michele is delighted with them; they only took a day for the company to install, and the £4,000 bill for the four panels was exceptionally reasonable, especially when paid for by the Islington Cloudesley grant. Design and installation costs brought the total to £8,500 or so – less than a new boiler. The running costs are also low, and being electric, they are by default low carbon. Christ Church fitted LED lights throughout at the same time, and the double combination has had a very positive effect on their bills.
Michele talks about achieveing Eco Church Bronze, and how she needs to get back on with getting the church to Silver – only she’s ‘been a bit busy’. This is Michele-speak for the momentous work she’s done as part of the project-managing team which oversaw the building of the Community Centre – that inviting space outside with bistro tables, cafe and community hall space. She mentions she works part-time as a nurse, and it’s mind-blowing how she does it all. Up in the Angel Room, framed by triangles of leaded glass, you can just see the Community Centre’s green roof. A parishioner has asked to keep hives on top, and there they are nestled between beautiful wild-flowers. This church’s warm welcome extends as far as pollinators.
The Community Centre is wonderfully sympathetic to its surroundings, and a truly beautiful space. Super-insulated, with underfloor heating, it’s doing an immense job of energy efficiency, keeping people as warm as the Angel Room does. But that’s to be expected from this parish, who know a thing or two about radiating warmth.
The Diocese of London now has a team in place to support churches on their journey towards Net Zero Carbon.
Find out the top 10 things your church can do on that journey.
| AT A GLANCE |
| What was done? |
| · Far Infra-red Radiant panels heaters in upstairs room
· LED lights throughout · Community Centre built, with Green Roof, high-spec. insulation, and underfloor heating |
| Reasons for action? |
| · Far Infra-red radiant panel heaters provide instant and reliable electrical heat with low emissions, even in draughty and high-vaulted spaces
· LEDs massively reduce energy use, and CO2 emissions · Thick insulation massively reduces energy bills and CO2 emissions · Green roof provides extra insulation and habitat for birds and insects, increasing biodiversity |
| Costs |
| Far Infra-red radiant panel heaters x4 = £4,000 + electrical installation £1,880 + panel design £2,680 = £8,560 +VAT.
LED lights throughout church = £23,000 |
| Funding |
| Cloudesley Trust Grant for panel heaters and LEDs |
| Length of time |
| Community Centre building works = 15 months
Panel heaters = 8 weeks lead time for custom-made panels; one day to install |
| Impact |
| Heating a space economically, even when high ceilings and draughts are present has meant that the nursery school can remain open, even in cold weather.
Welcoming, warm community facility that has very low bills and small running costs, whilst improving local biodiversity. |
| Lessons learnt |
| The far infra-red panels don’t extend quite to the middle of the room. Taking the distance that heat travels from the panels into account when planning the heating is important. |
Article author Alison Moulden