St Joseph’s Church

St Joseph’s Church, Wool was designed in 1969-71 by John Stark and Partners and its lantern roof has become a prominent local landmark. The church is already a Grade II Listed Building. We still look after the church and during a recent inspection we discovered that the roof was leaking, and there was significant corrosion to the underside of the lead. The lead needed to be completely replaced.

Normally, a Listed Building demands like-for-like replacement. However, we were reluctant to re-create a roof that had lasted less than 50 years. We were mindful of problems with the roof’s construction and the tendency for lead to be stolen, and so decided to change design details and materials to improve performance. Our choice of a standing-seam zinc roof was controversial and had to be robustly defended in order to obtain consent to build.  We kept rolled lead for the lantern spire and the roof perimeters in order to retain the building’s distinctive aesthetic.

The church was re-roofed in zinc by Conservation Leadwork Ltd, to achieve a long-lasting, sustainable and cost-effective solution.