Preamble

Laying of the foundation stone for the extension to the Parish Hall

As a thanksgiving to God for Blessings received during 150 years of service to the community the Board of Wardens of Holy Emmanuel Church Moratuwa decided at the beginning of 2005, to construct an extension to the existing Parish Hall.

The architectural design of the building was undertaken by Architect, Dilshan Ferdinando, a past student of the Sunday school. The design brief for the new building was prepared by the Wardens and the Building Committee which comprised of four Senior Chartered Engineers, Eng. B.R.O.Fernando, Eng. Chandra Perera, Eng. Ravi Ferdinando & Eng. Shavi Fernando in
consultation with the numerous parish organizations. The activities envisaged for the new building included facilities to cater to the needs of all segments of the parish community, particularly the elderly and the youth, women and children as well as to conduct outreach
activities for the community at large. The two storeyed building with a gross floor area of
13,000 sq.ft consists of two multi purpose halls, rooms allocated to parish organizations,
Board room and required support facilities.

Applications for Expression of Interest were called for by a newspaper advertisement from
Construction Contractors (Building) registered with the Institute for Construction Training
and Development for Grade M3 and above. 10 applications were received and evaluated by the
Building Committee considering their track record and financial & technical capacity to
perform the given contract. Accordingly six companies were pre-qualified to bid.

The bid documents prepared by a Chartered Quantity Surveyor were wetted by the Building Committee & the Board of Wardens before they were issued to the pre-qualified contractors.

Five bids were received, of which one was priced at approximately Rs.26 million and the other four bids varied between Rs.34 – 36 million.

A Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) which was appointed to evaluate the bids comprising
Eng. Ravi Ferdinando, Eng: Shavi Fernando and Chartered Accountant, Nishan Mendis evaluated the bids. The lowest bid received from M/s Wemara Construction (Pvt) Ltd was evaluated in detail with particular attention to the financial workability of the their bid, financial &
technical capacity of the company and references included in the bid with regard to recently
completed contracts. The contractor was also interviewed by the Board of Wardens & the TEC
to obtain further clarifications.

Having accepted the recommendation of the TEC to award the contract to Wemara Construction (Pvt) Ltd at a Contract Price of Rs. 25,836,171.05 the Board of Wardens issued the Letter of Acceptance to the Contractor on 24th September 2009.

Laying of the foundation stone
After the above preliminaries were attended, the Board of wardens decided to commence work on the building on the 11thOctober with the laying of the foundation stone. The site for the building was cleared and the place where the stone was to be laid prepared. Sunday 11th
October was a warm sunny day and after the 7.30 am service the large congregation and
Incumbent led by the cross bearer, servers, and choir processed to the site singing the hymn
“The Church’s One Foundation is Jesus Christ Our Lord”. The Sunday school children gathered around the spot where the foundation stone was to be laid whilst the rest of the congregation gathered around.

A simple wooden cross together with the typed and laminated text from the epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians, chapter 2: verses 19 – 22, was placed within the foundation stone to be laid. The text reads as follows “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; In whom ye also are builders together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.” After a prayer by the Rev; Nilanga Gunesekera, Incumbent Holy Emmanuel Church Moratuwa, committing the work of the building to the Lord the foundation stone was blessed and placed in the ground to the singing of the hymn “O God of hosts whose glory fills”. After the Foundation Stone was placed, Chandra Perera, Peoples’ Warden – speaking to those present stressed on the importance of the building which will be used for multifaceted purposes. It will accommodate the Sunday school children,( who at the present time conduct their classes in the church due to the lack of space in the parish hall), counseling services, provision of a meeting place for Youth, senior citizens and members of the different church related societies, the setting up of a library and reading room with computer and internet facilities, Day care services for children of working mothers, indoor games as well as an indoor Badminton court for the youth, caring of differently abled persons, self employment programmes for youth and the less privileged, rehabilitation programmes for drug addicts and socially marginalized persons, conducting of health clinics are some of the activities for which the new building will be used. He appealed to those present to give generously in order to complete the building in time for the 150th Jubilee celebrations of Holy Emmanuel Church Moratuwa. After the pronouncement of the Benediction the traditional Milk rice was served to all present and a time of fellowship followed.