St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Philadelphia, PA

The Project

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, PA intended to execute a number of capital improvements to their Historic Sanctuary and Parish Hall, including air conditioning the Parish Hall, renovating the Parish Hall kitchen, structurally evaluating and repairing the fleche (small steeple) as needed, establishing a new sanitary sewer connection, extensive cleaning and restoration of the historic wood and masonry sanctuary interior, historic door and window restoration, exterior stormwater improvements, and campus site lighting. Under Kristopher Powell’s management, the team building process added Studio Agoos Lovera and Delran as trusted partners to assist with assessment, design, and construction of the various scopes of work.

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To mitigate this risk, Kris broke the overall effort into a series of micro-phases, allowing the team to determine and assess risk and cost of each before committing to the next phase. This sequencing strategy allowed St. Paul’s to proceed through the scopes of work without unintentionally committing unavailable resources. Instantaneous analysis of the project budget allowed St. Paul’s to rapidly commit to subsequent stages of work, allowing the project team to stay efficient and mobilized. While a number of unforeseen conditions and strategic decisions based on uncovered problems did lead to cost events, Kris worked with the Church to deprioritize less-critical work to ensure the project stayed on-budget and on-track.  Because of the building’s age and complex history of renovations and updates, the project team recognized the potential risk of discovering unforeseen conditions that could consume valuable resources.

Ultimately, successful execution of the first micro-phases and demonstrated stewardship of the historic campus helped St. Paul’s fundraise to complete the full project scope. Interesting problem-solving strategies included the engagement of a Steeplejack – think of a mountain-climbing structural engineer – to save significant resources over the initial plan for structural investigation of the fleche. Though this project was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the improvements greatly improved the comfort, aesthetics, and maintenance of the Church, and led to a significantly improved experience for St. Paul’s parishioners upon their return to worship in 2021. (Completed with Aegis Property Group)

Project Status

Completed 2022

Project Budget

Confidential

Project Team

  • Studio Agoos Lovera – Architect
  • Delran Builders – Construction Manager
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
St. Paul's Episcopal Church

What our clients have to say

“

Crumbling infrastructure from storm drains to sanitary drains to inadequate power, preservation and revitalization of a historic property, more scope than financial resources, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill had a complex task ahead of us. We had completed a successful capital campaign, but after years of deferred maintenance there were known – and unknown – deficiencies to address. As our project manager, Kris helped us navigate the process of assembling the design and construction team, developing contracts, and executing the work. One of our biggest challenges was to keep the finances in order while addressing a number of unforeseen conditions that are inevitable when working in a building that dates to the 1850’s. Kris expertly tracked the costs and changes and advised us on making choices when unanticipated conditions forced us to reprioritize the scope. His help leading the team to a successful conclusion was invaluable.

MARK DUCKETTProperty Committee Capital Projects Liaison / St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill