A FILM about the eco-friendly revival of a derelict chapel is helping families to go green.

Southend Council hopes the innovative and energy-saving renovation work at Prittlewell Chapel in North Road, Westcliff, could help residents cut their energy bills.

The council has created a film which shows how good quality insulation and renewable technologies like solar panels, which are used in the development, can reduce your carbon footprint.

The footage gives exclusive access to the building work and can be seen on YouTube via Southend Council’s website.

Mark Flewitt, Southend’s councillor for transport and planning, said: “This latest film shows how this previously-dilapidated chapel is being given a new and sustainable lease of life, with energy-saving attributes which can certainly be tried out at home.

“It is a great opportunity to see how these sustainable technologies can work.

“As well as assisting the voluntary sector, once this refurbishment project is completed, it will also help to launch new social enterprise businesses.”

The film has been funded by Build with CaRe, a European Union-funded project to promote environmentally-friendly buildings.

Build with CaRe is working with the council to transform the formerly redundant chapel and the North Road burial site next to it.

After this film, the next one in the Build with CaRe film series will show how energy-saving devices installed at the refurbished chapel can be used in homes.

The chapel will be handed over to SAVS (Southend Association of Voluntary Services) to be used as a community centre once finished by the end of March.

The chapel was built in 1879 in the grounds of Prittlewell cemetery, and the council bought the freehold for £900 on November 15 that year.

The £1million project is being funded by a £998,714 from the Government’s Office of the Third Sector, plus £21,712 from the East of England Development Agency.

To view the council film, go to: www.southend.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=1131&documentID=1104 For more information on Build with CaRe please visit: www.buildwithcare.eu