The Church Repurposing Project Office supports local authorities and church councils in their necessary search for new uses for their struggling parish churches. After all, a church – as the house of God with a distinctive architectural style – is not something you simply convert. How can churches retain their special place, both architecturally and within society?

When it emerged late last year that Delhaize was negotiating with the City of Ghent regarding the purchase of St Anne’s Church, there was an immediate outcry. The mayor was presented with a petition denouncing the plans; a violinist staged a daily musical protest outside the church; and concerned citizens gathered there. The repurposing of churches still stirs up emotions, and that is hardly surprising. Whether you are for or against the church as an institution, religious heritage is part of Flanders’ DNA – both culturally, as St Anne’s has once again made clear, and spatially. All Flemish villages seem to be built around the church, and towns too are a patchwork of churches and church squares.

The heyday of the Catholic Church now seems to be over. There are fewer and fewer churchgoers, priests and monks, resulting in a surplus of monastic buildings and parish churches. At the same time, we are rapidly consuming open space, meaning we can no longer afford a single square metre of vacancy, certainly not in the cities. Everything that currently stands must be utilised to the full. Interest in the redevelopment of existing buildings and the pressure on them is growing.