There are many “T”s in a building project. Thanking God for His blessing and provision of a building and the finance is always a good place to start! Talking to your residential neighbours would be the next key action to take. It is crucial to commend the gospel in the way the work is implemented and this means Telling our neighbours exactly what is happening. Hopefully this will have been done already at the planning phase.
During the building phase agreeing, for example, the Time for the work to start on site each day and how much time is spent on site on a Saturday will be vital to avoid discontent and possible complaints to the Local Authority. Providing a point of contact within the church will be a great kindness and help to head off any potential issues that might arise. There is a vital need to live as a good neighbour during the project because the building work will finish and you will still be neighbours!
The Training of all key staff used by the contractor / builder is another area to consider. It is important that the church’s project manager has sight before the project begins of all the relevant training and qualifications of the staff being used on the project. The purpose of this is to ensure that people are doing what they are trained to do which limits the potential for accidents and also ensures that insurance covers in place are not invalidated.
Tea time will be important to the contractor and his staff – there needs to be an exclusive and safe space allocated for the workers to take lunches and comfort breaks away from the working area. The space will also need a fresh water supply.
Traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular, loading and parking is another key consideration to ensure that both pedestrians and other road users are not unduly inconvenienced or put in harm’s way by the works. This will mean careful risk assessing of transport and traffic including a safe system of working where perhaps deliveries are made outside the rush hours and children going to school. Equally, there will need to be complete separation of pedestrian traffic so that there is NO possibility of people straying onto the work site.
