In July 2018 work commenced at Manchester Cathedral which ran for 26 weeks. This has been one of the biggest projects to date for Heritage, and one to be proud of for years to come.
Masonry and Repointing was carried out to the full tower, and the juxtaposition of old and new can be seen all the way round this area of the Cathedral.
Areas of the Parapets were dismantled and rebuilt to allow the scaffold to be constructed and as part of this process, new stone sections had to be carved in line with the original pieces to enable a full rebuild, as the existing stone was severely damaged. New Eltawater Slate Louvers were installed to replace the old sandstone ones which creating an unsafe area of the Cathedral due to the material shaling over time, causing pieces of stone to fall to the ground.
Detailed stone carving was also carried out around the Clock Faces once they had been removed for repairs. The works included Heritage cutting out, recarving and replacing the stonework. The Clock Faces were removed from site, overhauled, regilded and fixed back in to position with new opal glass and a new lighting system was installed which changes colour to allow the Cathedral to tie in with any key events they wish to.
New composite decking was installed to the Tower Roof, enabling the Cathedral to open the area for special occasions. The Cathedral also wanted a new 15m flag pole installing to the Tower roof, which involved careful planning as a large scale crane was needed to lift the pole into position which required road closures in the surrounding areas.
A new handrail was installed to the upper half of the Spiral Staircase, along with which proved challenging working in such a restricted area – see project gallery for an insight of this. The East facing leaded windows were dismantled, re-built, and re-leaded as part of the project too.
The project ran within budget and the allocated time scale in time for a royal visit in the run up to Christmas.
