Selling One Church to Save Another: A Scottish Congregation’s £1.3 Million Green Renovation

• Cairnlea Parish Church in Airdrie completed a £1.3 million renovation of its buildings
• The work was funded partly by the sale of the former Broomknoll church
• Fossil fuel heating was replaced with air source heat pumps
• The former manse became Cairnlea House, completed in October 2021

When two congregations in Airdrie united in 2016, they had to decide what to do with two sets of buildings. The Church of Scotland reported in March 2022 that Cairnlea Parish Church had completed a £1.3 million renovation of its remaining site, funded in part by the sale of the former Broomknoll church building.

The funding came from several sources: the Broomknoll sale, congregational giving and fundraising, grants, Covid recovery funds, and Scottish Government support connected to a housing association conversion. The project, launched in 2018 as Cairnlea 2020, was delayed by the pandemic, with construction starting in July 2020.

The work removed fossil fuel heating in favour of air source heat pumps, added lifts and new toilets, created a flexible sanctuary with removable pews, improved lighting, insulated the hall ceiling and replaced the hall stage. The sanctuary reopened in April 2021, the former manse was completed as Cairnlea House in October 2021, and hall work finished in December 2021.

The church’s account of the project, led by its minister, Rev Peter Donald, described how the building “has really sung with the new lighting” and become more beautiful than before.

The Cairnlea story is a practical example of consolidation: a united congregation sells a surplus building, then invests the proceeds in making its main site accessible, efficient and fit for the future. It also shows a church taking energy costs and carbon emissions seriously when it renovates.

Some congregations in Jamaica have merged or shrunk and hold more buildings than they need, and electricity bills weigh on older halls. Cairnlea offers church boards at home, and diaspora members supporting them, a model: sell or repurpose what is surplus, and invest the money in one well-equipped, accessible, energy-efficient home for worship and community life.

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