A WIRRAL-BASED law firm has helped a church find a second home on Merseyside. 

The Romanian Orthodox Church needs a second church building situated in Liverpool to manage demand amongst its growing congregation.

The church opened its first site in Bebington in Wirral in 2015, but space at the former burial chapel is limited and so now it has taken a lease of the Holy Spirit Church on Poulsom Drive in the Litherland area of Liverpool.

The site has been secured on a long lease by the commercial property team at Jackson Lees acting on behalf of the church. Previously, this church offered services to local catholic worshippers, but became empty over four years ago.

The Romanian Orthodox Church is a registered charity and receives around 60 people at its services in Wirral each week, but the new Liverpool site will enable it to receive up to 200 people.

Secretary and treasurer of the church is Dr Stuart Carter, who is emeritus professor of veterinary pathology at the University of Liverpool.

He said: “We’re delighted to be able to secure this site and look forward to being able to welcome more and more people to services led by Father Florin Voinea.

"We hope after some small renovations that the church will be open and able to welcome people into our congregation early in the new year.

Dr Carter runs the church with a board of trustees, including his Romanian-born wife, Dorina, a senior lecturer in veterinary clinical microbiology at the University of Liverpool.

The two met as part of an EU academic exchange programme 20 years ago. The husband and wife team are joined on the church’s charitable board by four other trustees and have around 35 volunteers. Its aim is to provide regular free church services in the orthodox Christian faith, with services open to all the public.

Rebecca Emmitt, a commercial property solicitor at Jackson Lees, said: “I am delighted to have been able to secure this site for the Romanian Orthodox Church on Merseyside.

"They have been a pleasure to act for and it is brilliant to see an unused building being brought back to life and contribute to the local community.”

Jackson Lees corporate clients now include: Andy Bell, founder of investment platform AJ Bell, Warrington-based engineering firm Denholm Rees & O’Donnell, Central Liverpool Credit Union, Manchester-based marketing agency Flowd, Birkenhead start-up Gets Property and Accrington-based garden manufacturer, The Garden Village.

The team has also increased from six to eleven in the last year and now comprises Andrew Leakey and Rebecca Zaidi-Lowe (commercial and civil litigation), Jen Goodwin and Charlotte Mills (corporate and commercial), Hannah Dowd (employment), Rachel Evans and Gordon Irving (private immigration and visas), Victoria Evans, Rebecca Emmitt, Megan Cockcroft and Jasmin Trafford (commercial property).