15min clip - Why The World’s Tallest Apartment Buildings Are On The Same NYC Street

5min clip - Paris's Fake Buildings (And The Story Behind Them)

found via a digg email and this text from youtube "The beautiful houses at 145 rue la Fayette, 29 rue Quincampoix, and 44 rue d'Aboukir have one thing in common: they're fake. Why does Paris have so many fake façades and what hides behind them?"

54min @smartereveryday clip - How #rockets are made - (Rocket Factory Tour - United Launch Alliance)

#ruralpresence - Independent review calls for greater #community use to give #church buildings a sustainable future

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)

Commissioned in 2016 to report to the Chancellor and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport - this review considers the funding and sustainability of listed church buildings.  Published on 20/12/17, the press release for the review says....

" The review panel highlighted the best practice of many churches and of volunteers around the country, with buildings adapted and used for cafes, playgroups, and in some cases NHS and post office services. The panel said it wants to see more innovation of this kind."

But the press release also commented that....

"Congregations are individually responsible for the care of their own buildings and despite the commitment and hard work of volunteers, the panel found a lack of consistency in the ability of many churches to carry out routine maintenance and repairs."

The press release goes on to summarise the reviews recommendations as shown below - and says that these should be tested through pilot schemes in both rural and urban areas.

• "creating a national network of Community Support Advisers to help churches identify and strengthen wide ranging relationships within their local area".  The review hopes that "through greater community engagement, churches will be used more frequently and can maximise new funding options reflecting this broad community involvement."
• "creating a group of ‘Fabric Support Officers’ who have practical heritage buildings expertise to ensure that all churches have access to high quality advice"
• churches should "develop annual minor repairs plans. This will mean that repairs can be addressed immediately and prevent the development of more costly major repair."
• churches should prepare " a rolling ten-year major repairs plan" and that these be "kept up to date so that larger works can be planned and given the best chance of being properly funded."

It's worth looking at the letters in response to the report in the Church Times this week.  These wondered about the role of the proposed Fabric Support Officers and Community Support Advisers and questioned how far community use ideas for church buildings were viable for remote rural churches.

And it's also interesting to compare the current report's proposals with recommendations in the Church of England's Church Buildings Review report, issued in 2015.

#ruralpresence - #Community owned businesses that use #rural #church #buildings help sustain the church @GerminateARC @heritagelottery @PlunkettFoundat @UniofNewcastle

 

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)


This research used 5 full case studies and 2 shorter ones to consider whether community owned businesses can help sustain rural places of worship.  Social enterprises, (more recently called community businesses/co-operatives), are trading organisations with social and community objectives.  Any surplus funds they generate is used to fulfill social purposes.   Examples are community owned shops or pubs or broadband and energy schemes.

The research was commissioned by the Heritage Lottery Funding in 2012 supported by a steering group comprising: Plunkett Foundation; Cathedral and Church Buildings Division of the Church of England; Germinate: The Arthur Rank Centre; Newcastle University.  A report was published March 2017.  

Headlines from the research are:

• Social enterprise had a positive impact on the long term sustainability of the place of worship. This was through increasing use, additional income generation and the involvement of more people.

• The needs of the wider community must be the starting point for considering the potential of a social enterprise. Solutions that are solutions for community needs and problems are more likely to be successful than those which are merely solutions for the problems of a place of worship.

• The benefits and wider impacts of a social enterprise extend beyond meeting the initial service need or resource provision.

• High quality advice, support and promotion are needed to ensure good practice is shared and built on.

• There are three challenges to address in the use of social enterprise in places of worship:
  
  (a) The social enterprise should meet the community’s needs and not be developed
  solely as a solution to problems of a place of worship;
  
  (b) Recognising and addressing the tensions that may arise in using a spiritual
  place for secular purposes;
  
  (c) The process for working through the planning system and listed building
  consent, including denominational systems.

2min @qz clip - The world's #darkest temporary building is at the 2018 Olympics (and it has curved walls)

Found via a digg email

Text from youtube "This building absorbs 99% of the light that hits it, making it the darkest in the world. It's a temporary art installation built by the architect Asif Khan for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. He worked with a version of Vantablack, the darkest possible paint, to create the illusion of a void dotted with stars."

#ruralpresence - @GerminateARC Toolkit - using your #church #building to offer an open #welcome

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)

Open Welcome is a new resource from Germinate: The Arthur Rank Centre.  

It is designed to help rural churches consider how they might use their building to offer welcome and hospitality to those in their community, both residents and visitors.

Church buildings have the capacity to move people.  So we need to view them as more than just bricks and mortar. 

The 8 page Open Welcome document is a free, practical resource covering topics like opening the building, welcoming visitors and telling the story.   

It is divided into the sections described below and it can be downloaded here. Introduction Section 1 - Why open your buildings Section 2 - Extending the welcome Section 3 - Telling the story Section 4 - Practical steps Useful information and resources

#ruralpresence - Updated toolkit - to help develop your #church for wider #community use - by @HerefordDiocese

 

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)

In November last year Hereford Diocese made available online their newly revised and expanded Crossing the Threshold toolkit.  

It's packed with 268 pages of advice, hints and tips for any group taking a community development approach towards adapting a church building for wider community use, while balancing the needs of existing worshippers.


This practical document draws upon input and expertise from a range of national church organisations as well as lessons learned from recent projects.  It includes case studies, top tips and end-of-chapter checklists.

You can download the whole toolkit here: Whole Toolkit Link

Alternatively, you can download the chapters individually:

• Chapter 1 - Developing Your Vision
• Chapter 2 - Undertaking a Community Audit and Consulting with the Community
• Chapter 3 – Developing a Team and Assessing Your Skills and Abilities
• Chapter 4 – Governance – Choosing the Right Organisational Structure
• Chapter 5 – Developing Your Ideas – Options Appraisals, Feasibility Study, Architect’s Brief and the Design Stages
• Chapter 6 – Balancing the Need for Change with heritage and Liturgical Considerations – Legalities and the Church Planning Process
• Chapter 7 – Planning Your Project
• Chapter 8 – Writing a Business Plan
• Chapter 9 – Ensuring Your Project is Sustainable
• Chapter 10 – Raising the Funds
• Chapter 11 – Identifying the Right External Funders
• Chapter 12 – Completing Applications – Selling Your Project to Funders
• Chapter 13 – Managing Project Cash Flow
• Chapter 14 – Managing the Building Works on Site
• Chapter 15 – The Final Stages – Claiming Money, Celebrating, Impact and Evaluation
• Chapter 16 – Further Information

8min 42sec clip - what if #everybody lived in just one #building - using some #examples of big buildings

found via laughing squid

2min 7sec clip - 1 more step in the #robot takeover - brick-laying robot can build a #house in 2 days (4x faster than humans apparently)

found via techinsider

10 useful links (no. 20) - download #youtube clips, #submarine cables, #gmail plugin IDs words that undermine your point, free backing #music for clips, sound #maps of London

links to previous 10 useful links posts are at the foot of this post

will your job be done by a machine? - found via an article on vice

interactive submarine cable map - found via @wef

I'm just not sorry - a Gmail Plug-in that warns you when you write emails using words which undermine your message - found via a @kickstarter email 

link to advice about encouraging a wider, more imaginative and more strategic use of the Church of England’s 16,000 buildings - found via lawandreligionuk.com

swop out facebook's new reaction emojis for different ones (but you'll be te only one to see them - found via mentalfloss

free backing music for videos

where is your surname most popular in the uk - found via @indy100

download youtube videos by simply adding ss before the youtube bit of the clips url

a music video featuring you - found via a @kickstarter email

sound maps of London - found via bigthink





Previous 10 Useful Links posts 

No.'s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

11 year #timelapse of one world trade center in new york being built

found via relevant magazine

the world's #biggest historical #buildings

fascinating #unbuilt #buildings