FUNDRAISERS are making the final push to pay for the most eco-friendly church building in the UK.

Baildon Methodist Church has already raised £700,000 towards to £900,000 cost of the two-storey low-energy building constructed to standards similar to a Passivhaus which will house community groups.

Now the church has launched a ‘Green Bricks’ initiative to raise the final money needed for the building which will be the first community structure in West Yorkshire of its type.

Preacher John Anderson said: “It will use virtually no energy and emit virtually no carbon dioxide. It will house Baildon Preschool, a new Scout group and be occupied by many others among the 37 users of the church premises.

“It is a huge project, we’re very pioneering. For church sites we are the first.

“It is a successful project but we need more money.”

He said nearly half of the money they had received so far had been from small local donors but this week they had received an “extraordinarily generous” donation of £10,000.

He said the project - to be called The Fold - had a particular emphasis on being green because the world needs to cut its carbon emissions.

“We have to stop the planet getting hotter and we’re acting on that,” he said.

“People realise they give off CO2, particularly when they fly.

“We’re asking people to consider offsetting the equivalent of the CO2 they produce as a donation.”

As part of the ‘Green Bricks’ initiative the church is asking people to donate £5, £10, £15 or more, for those who can afford it.

Through grants and matched funding schemes, the church aims to raise at least four times the amount of private donations.

The names of all Buy a Brick donors will be included in the BIG Project Time Capsule which will be ceremonially laid in the floor of Wesleys cafe, once work is completed.

The building will replace a single-storey 1950s temporary Marley Hut building that is no longer fit for purpose.

The first floor will be used for Scouts, table tennis, film clubs and provide more room for the Youth Club while the ground floor will be used by the pre-school. Rooms will be available for hire at the weekends by many local groups.

The church has already completed over £175,000 of improvements to the original Wesley buildings on the site.

As part of the project the church aims to reduce energy consumption to 40% of 2009 levels and generate at least half of those future energy needs from on-site renewable sources – thus slashing its ‘net’ energy bills to at least 15% of 2009 levels.

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