Catholic Church of St David

Design based on traditional longitudinal plan of aisled nave, transepts and sanctuary, the elements radically re-imagined in a modern idiom and expressed in modern materials. Rustic orange Leicestershire brick facing to a steel reinforced masonry pier construction. Steel and timber copper-clad roofs. Large, rectangular plan, comprising nave with aisles that are slightly advanced at east and west ends, where they clasp the lean-to canopy roof over the entrance, and a lean-to passage at E. Shallow transept-like projections to N and S, with band of low narrow windows to N, an irregular grid of taller lights to S. N and S nave walls articulated by single-storey lean-to extensions with copper-clad roofs, separated by tall windows. Campanile advanced at SW corner with single bronze bell and giant aluminium cross (originally fibreglass). Recessed W front has lean-to copper-clad canopy over entrance, and tall windows stretching from this roof to the eaves, in the angles with the advanced aisles. Additional entrance in W end of N aisle.

Rustic orange Leicestershire bricks, as externally. Broad and lofty nave, the aisles threaded through the brick-clad piers that support the roof. These piers define alternating wide and narrow bays – the narrow bays with high windows, the wider bays opening into shallow arched recesses. Two of these originally housed confessional boxes, but that to S is now the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. Gallery at west end, accessed by spiral staircase in NW corner. Former baptistry at SW, now a repository. Sanctuary dramatically top-lit from glazed lantern, flanked by transept-like chapels dedicated to Our Lady and the other to St David, each with abstract stained glass dalle de verre windows by Charles Norris, a monk from Buckfast Abbey. Shallow arches in the E walls of these transepts open into narrow bays with tall windows providing concealed side-lighting to sanctuary. Behind these, a sacristy and flower room are linked by a passage running behind the sanctuary.

The 12 windows by Jonah Jones are distributed throughout the church in two sets: 8 are mounted in frames in front of existing windows to either side of nave and at west end, and 4 are mounted in lightboxes on internal walls to E and W. They are mainly abstract compositions with strong primary colours, though the pair to either side of the sanctuary incorporate star and flower emblems.