TV makeover to transform church space into teenage housing

The team, lead by presenter Nick Knowles, has been working to create supportive living accommodation for 16-18 year olds.

Local homeless charity Nightsafe, who receive funding from Children In Need were approached by the organisation in January about a potential DIY project.

St Silas Church wanted to re-purpose its parish rooms to better serve the local community and, having worked with the homeless charity in the past, offered the space to Nightsafe.

Rev Sheelagh Aston is the vicar at St Silas’ and told Premier they were inspired by the gospel of Luke to give the space to the work of Nightsafe.

Referencing Luke 10:3, she said: “Jesus says, if you’ve got two buildings, two coats, give one to somebody else. And that really spoke to us.

“And we thought, in real terms, we don’t need the parish centre, it could be given over to a charity.”

The project gained the interest of the BBC after Nightsafe shared they would be partnering with a local church to help the homeless.

Rev Aston said the show’s producers were excited to feature the church’s commitment to social action.

“The producers realised that this is quite a unique product and that the Church is playing quite a strong role in it. They’ve really been quite encouraging to us, to speak up and say this is as much a Christian project as it is a settler’s project, it’s a meeting of communities.”