St John's Waterloo

Eric Parry Architects has completed the £5.5 million restoration and renovation of the Grade II* listed St John’s Church in Waterloo. The improvements to the church will safeguard it as a place for worship and spiritual enrichment, delivering upgrades to its facilities that help it meet its ambition to play a leading role in the social, cultural and spiritual life of Waterloo and the wider city of London.

Eric Parry Architects has restored and revealed key elements of the historic interior of the church to create a high-quality space for arts and events within the listed building. The newly refurbished church provides a place of worship and one of the best performance event and meeting spaces on the South Bank, with accommodation for St John’s own and other community projects, as well as the conservation of the unique church and its art.

The project takes major steps to move St John’s towards the Church of England’s target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Solar energy use has been integrated into design from the outset, with a major installation of 80 solar panels covering almost all the south-facing roof, with the capacity to generate a potential 30 kWh in bright sunshine.

Of the £5.5m of funds raised to complete the renovations, more than £1m came from the congregation – a strong indication of local support for the project.  Other major grants came from the London Borough of Lambeth, the Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund and The Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund. The solar panel project was made possible by a grant of £30,000 from the Mayor’s London Community Energy Fund. The rest was made up by many other trusts, foundations and individual donors.