The FRS Rebuilding Blog

Those of you who were able to join our Zoom service on Monday, would have seen an amazing sight – Rabbis Miriam and Deborah, and Cantor Zoe, clad in hi-vis jackets and hard hats, gathered in front of the first columns of our new building.

Representatives of the Building Committee and Council gathered to hear words of praise for the early pioneers of our community, of the challenges which had been faced as the community grew and developed, and how we look with confidence to the future. We acknowledged how proud we are of our community’s values, and of our commitment to social action, as typified by our Eighth Rung Project. If you weren’t able to join us on Monday, then you can watch it again here.

And you can read the addresses from each of our Clergy here:
Rabbi Miriam Berger
Cantor Zöe Jacobs
Rabbi Deborah Blausten

From a practical perspective, the construction is firmly on schedule – the rain last week slowed things down a little, but, as we all saw on Monday, work continues whatever the weather! The foundations are now complete, and the external frame of the building is taking shape. The basic structure will be complete by the end of July, and it will be wind and water-tight by September. That’s great as it means the internal fit-out can take place over the winter months, and we are still being promised a completion date at the end of March, a few weeks before Pesach, and only 9 months away! 

A huge amount of work is progressing in the background – we have been in close consultation with CST over our new security measures; we have been working on the details of the joinery, and of the sanitaryware, flooring and external render. Many more design decisions remain to be made, and we will be consulting with the ‘look and feel’ groups as we move ahead.

Our new Ark is being designed and created by Gerry Judah, and we are getting close to the time when we can share with you some images of what it will look like… we are incredibly lucky to have a world-renowned artist as one of our members and very grateful to Gerry for this amazing gift!

And as we approach the summer, our professional team are already starting to think about planning for the move back to Fallow Court Avenue, including identifying what items we can dispose of before the move, to make best use of the available storage space, and how we will need to evolve our ways of working in the new environment.  

As always, please do email or call me if you have any questions about the building project. 

Bob Humphreys, Chair