Church Converts: A New Chapter for Historic Churches

Church Converts is a specialist developer dedicated to giving redundant church buildings a sustainable future. We have the expertise to guide a church from closure through planning for adaptive reuse, undertaking repair works and delivering turn-key developments that secure the long-term future of important heritage assets.

Our experience gives us confidence to be able to navigate the complex process associated with closure, acquisition and development of churches in England, having successfully achieved planning consents for change of use, and delivered adaptive reuse projects for Grade II and Grade II* listed churches.

Church Converts is looking to work with Dioceses to find solutions that remove the financial burden of closed churches away from them, without risk that the church will return to the Diocese as the result of a failed scheme.

The principal of Church Converts is Simon Linford, formerly Chief Executive of specialist restoration contractor Linford-Bridgeman, and heritage developer Czero Developments. Simon has recently completed a Masters degree in Architecture and Adaptive Reuse at the Manchester School of Architecture, specifically studying the adaptive reuse of churches, considering what can be learned from the processes and precedents in other countries, and developing an innovative framework for considering the adaptive reuse options for any church building. More detail can be found in the research section of this site.