MALTON methodist church has unveiled dramatic plans for its proposed transformation to create a community hub for the town.

The historic church, which has been on the current site in Saville Street for more than 200 years, considered options for its continuance in the town following the discovery of significant structural issue with its roof in September last year.

Methodist minister, Rev Tanya Short, said: “This wonderful building was designed for a different age more than two centuries ago, but for today’s needs – whilst respecting its heritage, we have to make some significant changes, especially to the interior. Without change, we’re certain that the building has little or no future. We believe this is the best way, not simply to save the building at any cost, but for the church to use its assets and resources for the benefit of the whole community.”

Earlier this year, the church appointed the York-based conservation architectural firm PPIY Architects to create an imaginative scheme, and whilst the Saville Street façade of the building will remain virtually unaltered, the interior will be sympathetically transformed.

The proposed design utilises a combination of best practice in conservation architecture and creativity, whilst adopting the use of high quality contemporary materials and form.

On the ground floor, a new welcome space will be created, with a café, and information point. Behind a screen of contemporary glass, there’ll be a large multi-functional hospitality space capable of hosting either a seated meal or wedding reception for 125 people, or use as a gallery space for exhibitions, as a gathering and meeting place for festivals, or as a space to accommodate up 225 people for a reception. This space will also be capable of division into either two or three smaller areas – all serviced by a large professionally equipped catering kitchen for special events.

On the first floor, a new elegant well-equipped 300-seat auditorium will be developed from the current gallery space, sympathetically re-seated using the existing raked amphitheatre format of the building, whilst creating a unique venue of character for conferences, concerts, public meetings – and a smaller space for the church to use on Sunday’s and at other times. The floor of the auditorium will be partly constructed of structural glass, enabling the original form of the entire building to remain visible from each vantage point.

An historic pipe organ is to be restored and reinstated to the new auditorium, rescued from redundancy in another listed building in Britain, providing a three manual instrument of merit that will be used for concert purposes, for recital works, for church worship, and also made readily available to schools in the area to encourage music students to learn the classical organ.

A new basement area will be created primarily for storage, accessed via a passenger lift and a feature circular staircase; the basement level will also provide toilet facilities to service the whole complex, and permitting ‘through’ access at all times to a reinstated three-storey rear annex, fronting Chapel Lane. This will provide an array of modern meeting rooms and offices available for community use, at affordable rates. Another larger lift in the transformed building will provide level access.

Paul Emberley, a spokesman for the church, said: “This is an ambitious project. But whilst we’ve been refining our plans during the year, we’ve also consulted widely with the community, and this has validated our belief that there is a need for such a genuine community hub in the heart of Malton. But it also has to be acknowledged that the Saville Street Church building is simply not sustainable for any purpose, without change.”

The preliminary plans have now been made available to statutory consultees, including Historic England and Ryedale District Council, and the methodist church authorities are expected to determine in late January 2017 whether the project can proceed in principle.

Further details can be viewed on the church website: www.maltonmethodists.org

Readers can email a comment to enquires@maltonmethodists.org, or via Facebook:@MaltonChurch