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The Cathedral Phase One renovation work began on 23rd November 2009 and was completed on 10th
September 2010. The reopening of the Cathedral was celebrated on 11th September. The Phase One
work included:
- tiling of the whole floor surface (including the sanctuary)
- re-ordering of the sanctuary
- re-instatement of the Lady Chapel
- improved lighting
- installation of new boilers
A Solemn Mass to celebrate
the reopening of the Cathedral and the Consecration of the Altar took place at
11.00am on Saturday 11 September. The Principal Celebrant was Bishop Séamus
Cunningham and also in attendance were Bishop Ambrose Griffiths, civic dignitaries and
a congregation of six hundred.
 View photo gallery of reopening ceremony
Progress Reports
Posted 5th September
This last week has seen a good deal of high level cleaning of the roof areas and archways.
Re-painting of the walls in the Lady Chapel has also taken place and the brass screen for the
Blessed Sacrament Chapel has been polished and put back in place. The temporary confessionals
at the west end are almost completed and will be usable from week beginning Monday 13 September.
Considerable re-lamping and re-focusing of the lights has taken place during this last week
resulting in much improved light levels throughout the Cathedral.
Posted 27th August
Completion work seemed to be happening in every corner of the Cathedral this last week.
The joiners have been building the temporary confessionals in the northwest corner. The
painters have completed the repainting of the green walls in the north and south aisles.
The tilers have been working in the remaining areas at the back of the sanctuary and at
the octagon doors in the south aisle. Along the nave the electricians have been replacing
wiring in the light fittings. Throughout the building, the roof structure has been cleaned
from a 'Genie' access lift.
Posted 22nd August
Tiling work to the sanctuary has progressed with most of the lettering bands now completed.
The brass nosings have been fitted to the sanctuary steps. The west end floor tiling work has
progressed to the south octagon doors. The organ's protective housing has been taken down so
that the instrument can be retuned in preparation for the re-opening of the Cathedral on 11
September. The electrical supply for the church was switched off for a few hours during the
week while the electrical distribution panel was upgraded to meet the current safety standards.
Posted 15th August
Five tilers have been continuing their work on the floor, the highlight of which
has been the setting in of the colourfully decorated tile diamonds on the sanctuary.
The original 'Pugin' tiles in the north aisle have been grouted and the aisle tiling
at the west end is making its way towards the octagon doors. Also, the electricians
have been putting the cables into the floor ducts.
Posted 8th August
Tiling in the west end of the Cathedral has progressed well this week. The colourful
central aisle had reached the doors of the Narthex and an area of the north aisle has
been completed in the original Pugin black and red tiles. These tiles were salvaged
from the original floor and carefully cleaned (retaining the original patina) prior
to relaying. They have been laid in a staggered square bond so that they are clearly
identified as different from the new black and reds which are laid in a diamond pattern.
Works have started in the sacristy to prepare for the installation of new electrical
distribution board. The joinery for the fan convector housing have been started in
the south west corner. The high level cleaning has started. A portion of the roof can
be reached from a ladder but the higher parts will be cleaned from a genie lift.
Posted 1st August
The floor at the west end of the Cathedral was prepared for screed laying which
took place on Friday morning. This will be the final visit of the screeding
subcontractors who travel up from Bolton to do this work. The screed will cure
over the weekend and tiling in this area can start early next week. The hearing
loop specialists have completed their installation by pulling the transmitting
wires through the conduits that they have laid as the floors have been cast. The
complex tiling has continued in the sanctuary area and the stone that will remain
exposed on the sides of the sanctuary has been cleaned and pointed where necessary.
Posted 25th July
This week the tiling continued west wards in the nave and work commenced on the very
decorative tiling of the surface of the sanctuary floor. The final structural floor slabs
have been cast at the west end and the insulation laid over them. The tilers have been able
to salvage fifteen square metres of the original black and red tiles to re-use in the north
aisle as a memory of the original floor. A template of the profile of the proposed new organ
was hung at the west end of the church so that the scale and impact of the instrument could
be considered by the Historic Churches Committee.
Posted 11th July
At the beginning of the week, eight piles were driven to a depth of eight metres (twenty-six feet)
to support the new foundation for the new organ gallery. Following on from that, the wooden
formwork and steel reinforcement for the pile cap has been fitted in preparation for the
concrete to be delivered on Monday 12th July. The tiling contractor has been working in the
Nave and a large area of black and red tiling has been laid, together with some of the lettering
that runs along the edge of the central aisle. Down in the boiler house the new leaded lights
have been fitted and the repair to the drains in the adjacent yard has been completed.
Posted 4th July 2010
The floor areas in the western end of the nave and the north aisle have now been
concreted and screeded and are ready for tiling which will commence on Monday 6 July.
Work has also been continuing in the area just beyond the west door narthex where the
floor has been removed to a depth of 7.5 metres. This has enabled piles to be inserted
for the foundations of the proposed new organ gallery which is expected to be installed
in a later phase of work.
Posted 27th June 2010
Work has continued preparing the subfloor in the west end of the cathedral. The steel formwork has
been laid and work has begun on installing the insulation layer.
Posted 20th June 2010
Floor demolition works in the west end are now complete and the some of the sleeper
walls have been modified which has allowed 50% of the steel formwork to be laid for
the new floor. At the west end the old foundations for the original west gallery have
been discovered but they are not suitable for reuse for the new organ gallery. A test
bore was carried out on Friday to check the ground conditions in preparation for the
installation of the new foundations for the new organ gallery. The lifting of the
original Pugin black and red tiles was very successful last week and the tiles are
now being taken away to a workshop for cleaning. We hope to be able salvage sufficient
to relay approximately 15 square metres of these in the north aisle as a historic reference.
Posted 13th June 2010
The contractor is now working in the west end of the Cathedral. All the timber floors
have been lifted. The heating ducts and brickwork of the central aisle have all been
demolished. A good proportion of the original Pugin black and red tiles are being lifted
successfully and it is hoped that sufficient will be salvaged to complete a whole bay of
the north aisle. The main altar, ambo, font and Lady statue have been moved this week
and the extended mensa (table top) has also been fixed to the altar base. The stone
mason who worked on the extension piece has done an excellent job taking 4 weeks to
carve the band of intricate entwined flowers.
Posted 6th June 2010
The third phase of work has started in the main body of the nave and north aisle. The hoarding
has been moved to cover the section and the initial preparatory work to lift the existing floor
has begun. The main West Door has been closed so access to the Cathedral is via the old baptistry.
Also this week, the highly patterned tiles for the baptistry have been laid in front of Lady Chapel
and the space for the font is clearly visible.
Posted 29th May 2010
The tiling continues a pace and the phase 2 area will be completed next week.
The highly patterned tiles for the baptistry are expected to be delivered early
next week and then subsequently laid. The sanctuary crucifix has been lowered,
gently cleaned and nail heads have been added. On Friday the crucifix was lifted
into place one truss line back from its original position. From next Sunday 6 June
the worship space for Sunday Masses will move to the sanctuary area and the third
phase of floor demolition work will start on Monday 7 June.
Posted 23rd Mary 2010
This was another week of concentrated effort on the floor tiling. The highly
coloured central aisle down the nave is growing at quite a pace. The tilers
are also working back into the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The pipe work duct
across the cathedral is now complete and the new brass railings for the sanctuary
have been installed. An access tower has been erected to begin the process of
repositioning the sanctuary crucifix. This will allow a close inspection by a
structural engineer of the suspension system carrying the sanctuary cross prior
to the work being carried out. Commissioning of the heating system has continued
and the boiler room is being decorated.
Posted 15th May 2010
The contractors worked late last Friday to complete the laying of 20 tonnes
of floor screed which then set and dried out over the weekend. This meant that
the laying of more floor tiles was able to commence on Monday. Four of the tilers
have been able to work all week without interruption and so a substantial area of
tiles has been laid from the front of the sanctuary back into the Cathedral.
This includes a lot of the highly coloured tiles for the central aisle. The old
railings from the sanctuary have been removed and the holes for the feet of the
new railings have been prepared with a diamond core drill. All the heating pipe
work runs have now been completed.
Posted 9th May 2010
The Lady Chapel floor tiling should be completed and grouted before the weekend.
The main work area is the floor in front of the sanctuary and in the Blessed
Sacrament area. The insulation was laid over the newly cast concrete floor early
in the week and it was then grooved to take the hearing loop conduits. Friday
should see the screeds laid and the weekend will give the screed 48 hours to set
and cure. The heating circuit across the Cathedral floor has been completed and
the fan convectors at the west end have been installed. The contractors have been
able to extend the demolition of the Cathedral floor to the west by approximately
2 metres. This does make the current space available for worship smaller but
will allow more space to be available during the next phase of works.
Posted 2nd May 2010
Once the sleeper walls were completed last week, the contractor was able to lay
the metal formwork for the floor slab. The concrete for this was barrowed in on
Wednesday and Thursday and was set by Friday morning. A temporary lifting beam
has been set up on the sanctuary to allow the ambo and the top of the altar to
be lifted and moved. The existing organ plinth has been reduced in length to
maximise the amount of new floor tiles that can be laid at this stage. The
heating engineer has completed the pipe work in the duct across the church
floor and hopefully this will be connected up next week. The stonemasons'
work to relocate the Chrismatorium has been completed and we can now measure
up the space in the centre for a timber and glass cabinet to hold the Holy Oils.
Posted 24th April 2010
This week the builders have been concentrating on modifying the existing
floor support. The sleeper walls have been reduced in height and capped
with concrete to give a level support surface for the new concrete slab.
Just inside the contractor’s hoarding the bottom of a duct has been cast
which will take the new heating pipes across the Cathedral. In the old
baptistery (now the octagonal entrance porch) the Chrismatorium (receptacle
for displaying the Holy Oils) has been taken out of the wall as it is to be
re-sited adjacent to the newly situated baptismal font in the South Aisle.
This was a tricky but successful job for the stonemasons and hopefully the
new infill stones will be inserted by Friday evening. So that the original
position of the Chrismatorium is recorded, the new stones have been
detailed to 'echo' its design.
Posted 18th April 2010
This week's work has been a concentrated effort to lift the old floors from
the area just in front of the sanctuary, around the existing organ plinth and
back towards the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The existing floors are a mixture
of timber, original cement floors and some quite recent concrete block floors.
The latter were probably put in at the same time as the current sanctuary. As
with all demolitions there has been dust created but hopefully this will have
settled out of the atmosphere and be cleaned up by midday on Saturday. The
external paving is now complete behind the boiler house. Work will start again
on the completion and commissioning of the heating system next week.
Posted 9th April 2010
The second phase of the project has started this week following the break for
Holy Week & Easter. The hoardings have been rearranged across the Cathedral
just to the west of the organ. The existing Blessed Sacrament Chapel brass screen
has been taken down and has been stored to give clear access to the floor. The
lifting of the floor boards, joists and wall plates has commenced between the
sanctuary steps and the back of the hoarding. The main contractor has been
liaising with the tile makers and dates for the completion of the next phase
of tile manufacture have been agreed. The external ground and drainage works
to the yard behind the boiler room have been completed.
Posted 20th March 2010
The infill floor work in the centre of the Sanctuary is continuing. The screed
which is the final stage of the pre-Easter work is due to be laid on Tuesday or
Wednesday next week. It will have a few days to cure before the carpet is put back
for Holy week. The Sanctuary side rails are being fabricated in Washington and the
work is progressing well.
Posted 14th March 2010
Bishop Cunningham and Frs Dixon, Leighton and Warren met in the Cathedral to
see the progress of the works and to discuss the detail of the positioning
of the Altar, Chrismatorium (receptacle for holding and displaying Holy Oils) and
some other furnishings. The tiling work has progressed towards the Lady Chapel. The
tiling contractor will not be on site for the next couple of weeks while the
manufacture of the next batch of tiles is completed. The timber floor and its masonry
support walls in the centre of the sanctuary have been lifted and below these some
of the original steps of the sanctuary have been rediscovered. They have been
photographed and protection has been laid over them. The ducts and pipe work
for the heating and electrical services for the sanctuary has commenced. Dolomite
fill has been laid in preparation for the pouring of the new concrete slab in the
sanctuary area. Some of the refurbished pews have been returned to the cathedral
and a similar number taken away for renovation. The contractor's hoarding has
been moved to its new position running North/South across the cathedral.
Posted 6th March 2010
Tiling is the main element of the work at the moment and about 50% of
the tiles have been laid in the south aisle. A lot of time has been spent
fitting tiles into the service access covers in the floor. This work is labour
intensive as it requires a lot of careful cutting of the tiles. The reredos in
the Lady Chapel has been completed apart from the last panel of new Caen stone.
The original stone and the new stone match very well. Samples of the original
Lady Chapel wall tiles have been sent off to the tile maker so that he can
investigate the possibility of making more tiles to replace those that were
damaged during the previous works. In this week's site meeting the Contractor
set out his plans and programme for the work up to the Holy Week. During next
week the partition screen will be relocated to run north / south across the
Cathedral so that work can commence on infilling the existing timber floor in
the centre of the sanctuary.
Posted 28th February 2010
More tiles have been laid this week together with duct covers to conceal the
heating pipes and the electrical services. Some bays of tiling in the south
aisle are now grouted and complete. A visit to the workshop working on the pews
confirmed that 20 of them are now fully refurbished and fitted with the new
kneelers. The stone for the Lady Chapel reredos arrived a little earlier than
expected so the rebuilding commenced this week. Unfortunately one of the stone
slabs was broken on the journey from the French quarry to the stonemason's workshop.
The stonemasons are happy that they will be able to fit the replacement stone at a
later date.
Posted 21st February 2010
The first bay of tiling has been laid in the middle of the south aisle.
The tiles as delivered were found to be slightly larger than the manufacturer
expected so some minor adjustments were made to the setting out before any adhesive
was applied. By the end of the week a bay of tiles will have been sealed and grouted.
The works to rebuild the Lady Chapel reredos did not start this week as the new Caen
stone has not yet arrived from France. This is now expected to arrive on or about
the 3rd March.
Posted 14th February 2010
During this week the steps and raised dais for the Lady Chapel have been
completed and the chapel reredos stones have been brought back into the
Cathedral. Hopefully the rebuilding of the reredos will commence next week.
The heating system is being completed with the installation of new fan
convectors at the west end of the south aisle. Down in the boiler room
the new external grilles have been fitted and the drainage modifications
are well underway.
The setting out lines for the tiling have been positioned very accurately
by a surveyor using a laser theodolite. A small sample of tiles was delivered
last week and the tiling contractor has been using these to select the best
sealing product for them. He was able to demonstrate their resistance to
water and oil once the sealer had been applied. The first batch of tiles
for the floor has been delivered to the tiling contractor's workshop in Prudhoe.
Therefore everything is in place for the tiling to commence on Monday.
Posted 6th February 2010
In the south aisle the screed which was laid last week has been drying and
curing. The contractor has been working on the raised area for the Lady
Chapel in preparation for the reassembly of the Lady Chapel Reredos. A
meeting has taken place with the tiling subcontractor to discuss, plan
and 'set out' his work. This will commence during the week commencing 15
February. Detailed discussions have also taken place to finalise the new
electrical provision within the Cathedral. The new boilers are now working
very successfully and the temporary boiler has been taken way. The computer
controls for the heating system are being installed together with the new
fan convector units in the west end of the south aisle.
Posted 31st January 2010
Work carried out 25 - 29 January has been mainly to do with getting the concrete
screeds laid in the South Aisle. The new ducts for cables and the new hearing
loop were fitted into the insulation below the screed at the beginning
of the week. The craftsmen who laid the screed came up from Bolton
to do this work. Using a laser level to get a flat surface, they put down
25 tonnes of screed in less than a day and a half. There is good news from
Stoke on Trent where the first delivery batch of tiles has been successfully
fired. Previously there had been something of a setback when part of a
kiln had exploded. The tiles are now being trimmed and cut where necessary
in preparation for delivery. The temporary boiler has now been shut down
and the new boilers are up and running. Thankfully this changeover only
took a day rather than the two days anticipated.
Posted 23rd January 2010
During the last two weeks the new structural concrete floor for
the South Aisle has been cast and this has been overlaid with 100mm of insulation.
The existing cables, new wiring ducts and heating pipes are being threaded
through the insulation zone in preparation for the laying of a concrete screed.
The screed work is scheduled for next week and, once this has cured, the
floor will be ready for tiling. Out of sight, the work in the boiler room
continues. A good proportion of the circulation pipes, valves and pumps are
now in place and the work is on schedule for heat to be available for the
Cathedral and the presbytery from the new boilers by the end of January. There
will be a couple of mid-week days without heat when the change over from
the temporary boiler to the new boilers takes place.
Posted 8th January 2010
The contractor Stephen Easten Building Ltd started on site at the end of
November. Work began in the boiler room below Cathedral House as the old
boilers were removed and a temporary boiler was installed. The new boilers
were delivered just before Christmas and hopefully by the end of January
they will be plumbed in and operational. The first phase of work within
the Cathedral itself is concentrated in the south aisle behind a neat temporary
hoarding. The old floors have been lifted and the first pour of new concrete
went in just before Christmas. The Lady Chapel Reredos (previously part
of the Confessionals) has been taken down and stored in preparation for
its reinstallation back against the east wall. The manufacture of the new
floor tiles has commenced and the manufacturer's detailed drawings and
a sample tile have been received. The first batch of pews has been taken
to a workshop in Blaydon for refurbishment and the first sample has been
repolished.
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