Leap of faith

A chance meeting led Richard and Zoe Berry to embark on the conversion of a listed Georgian church in an Edinburgh conservation area, in what turned out to be an emotional project, full of drama

WORDS EMMA LEASK PHOTOS DAVID BARBOUR

THE BERRY FILE

NAMES Zoe & Richard Berry

OCCUPATIONS Stay-at-home mum & civil engineer

LOCATION Edinburgh

TYPE OF PROJECT Conversion

STYLE Georgian church

CONSTRUCTION METHOD Internal steel frame supporting joisted floor

PLOT SIZE 450m²

PROPERTY COST £180,000

BOUGHT 2010

HOUSE SIZE 290m²

PROJECT COST £300,000

PROJECT COST PER M2 £1,034

TOTAL COST £480,000

BUILDING WORK COMMENCED August 2011

BUILDING WORK TOOK 27 months for the main structural work, plus four years to completion (incl. internal fit out)

CURRENT VALUE £650,000

I t all started as a bit of a wind up. It had been a longstanding ambition for Richard Berry to convert a church, so when he came across a dilapidated Georgian one for sale in Edinburgh’s seaside suburb of Portobello he half-jokingly emailed the link to his wife. Later in the pub, a friend happened to introduce them to architect Anthony Rochmankowski – known as Rocky. During the course of the evening it transpired that this new acquaintance lived only a few doors down from the church Richard had spotted and was hugely enthusiastic about the building’s conversion potential.

Encouraged by their new connection, a week later the Berrys went to see the property. “It was a cold, open structure with old pews and an altar, ” says Zoe. “We love heritage buildings, but it was very difficult to visualise how it would become a family home. Rocky sketched various layouts and as we chatted it through it felt like fate, so we bought it and employed him as our architect.”

Ticking the boxes

The couple moved from their home into the ramshackle church hall at the back of the building (which was later knocked down) to save money and be on site during the works. They partitioned off the open space into a living room, office, bedroom and cupboard, which later became their son’s bedroom. “It was one of the coldest Scottish winters on record. There was no insulation, it cost a fortune to heat and it was still freezing, ” says Zoe. To add to the typical self build drama often seen in episodes of Grand Designs, she was heavily pregnant with their first child. “I remember sitting in there with a duvet wrapped around me, just crying, ” says Zoe. “We were meant to live there for six months and it ended up being over two years.”