To build the proposed housing development on the Silver Spring United Methodist Church campus, we will need to demolish the entire education wing. Because that wing currently houses our main boilers and the hub of our current mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems, we have hired the engineering consulting firm SRBR Engineers to survey those systems and make recommendations on both their relocation and modernization of the MEP systems in the sanctuary and office wing.
Earlier this month, a team of SRBR engineers completed a lengthy walk-through of SSUMC buildings, taking photographs and making detailed notes. They also digitized many of our original architectural and MEP drawings. We expect a report from SRBR by mid-March. From that report, we will have a good idea of the scale and cost of taking the old systems offline and building or modernizing what we’ll need in the remaining wing.
As we noted in the January 2026 update, a generous grant of $250,000 from the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church will be used to offset our costs, both with this initial survey and the MEP engineering work ahead. The entire MEP relocation and upgrading project will take approximately 18 months. Questions about this effort may be addressed to the Building Beloved Community Committee at belovedcommunity@silverspringumcp.org.