As a Church we are called to “Live with respect in creation”. Part of that living with respect means that we need to make our footprint on the environment smaller through improvements to our current building. The present Grace United Church was constructed in 1919-1920 after the previous building was damaged beyond repair in the Halifax Explosion of 1917. The church building has undergone some major renovations since then including the addition of buttresses and steeple/tower redesign and expansion of usable space in the basement.

We have been on a multi-year project of repairing the structure of the building. Over the past several years, we have undertaken buttresses repairs and repairs to the south facing brick wall along the driveway. Only a smaller buttresses near the minister’s office remains and we have been phrasing roof repairs.

However the major footprint on Creation comes from three oil-fired furnaces for heating. A grant from Region 15 (United Church area for Nova Scotia and Bermuda) supported an energy audit/assessment on the building in 2021 that helped provide a path forward. In the Spring of 2022, our furnaces shall be replaced by heat pumps after an upgrade to the electrical system. This project has been made possible by grants from the Faithful Footprint Program of the United Church of Canada and grants from the provincial and federal governments managed through Efficiency Nova Scotia/Efficiency One.

The current costs will outstrip the amount in the Building Fund so the Board authorized to be borrowed from the Memorial Fund, that will be repaid through contributions to the Building Fund.

Below are some pictures of the work being undertaken and videos on the greening of the video and buttresses repairs