The Reverend of St Mary le Strand Church has told Roar that he expects renovations to take place in March and to only take a few weeks.
Despite the Strand’s £22 million re-development only opening as recently as December 2022, a large area around St Mary’s has been cordoned off since mid-September 2023. As a result, around half of the new seating arrangements are unavailable to members of the public.
St Mary le Strand Church, which sits between the Bush House and Strand buildings of King’s College London (KCL), requires substantial masonry work on its upper levels, balustrade and roof, as there is currently a danger of material being eroded and coming loose. St Mary’s have been informed by specialists that there are ten areas of stonework in need of urgent repairs, and that therefore they need to cordon off the area to keep passers-by safe. Photos of the vulnerable stonework are available here.
The repair work is currently out to tender, with companies to submit their quotes by the end of January. The actual repairs will take two weeks and are currently timetabled for March, although this may be pushed back. It therefore seems possible that KCL students will not have access to the area until after full teaching weeks are over for the academic year. Regular classes are timetabled to end on Thursday 28 March 2024.
The Reverend also told Roar that the benches around the Church, only installed around a year ago, may have to be removed, considering the ongoing risk of falling masonry. However, it appears that extra benches are currently being installed further away from the Church, which seems likely to increase the seated capacity of the area in time for summer.
