Cathedral Secures Significant Grant for Urgent Roof Repairs

Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation awards Nottingham Cathedral £92,903 to help remedy roof concerns identified as part of its Restoring Pugin Project.

Following a substantial National Lottery Heritage Fund Grant, work has been underway this last year to investigate and define the scope of the restoration of AWN Pugin’s original decorative paint schemes to the Cathedral’s eastern chapels and connecting ambulatory. Over 60 paint ‘windows’ have been opened up, revealing beautiful designs from across the decades right back to the time of Pugin. Cliveden Conservation are currently busy analysing these ‘windows’ and this analysis will form an integral part of a bid to secure a ‘delivery’ grant from The National  Lottery Heritage Fund, which will hopefully see Pugin’s work restored to its former glory at the Cathedral.

However, before any works to recreate and reinstate these decorative schemes within the Cathedral can commence, it has been necessary to fully understand and address any risks posed by the environmental and fabric conditions of the Cathedral. Unfortunately, during the course of this exploratory work, water damage has been observed entering the east chapels and ambulatory and extensive historic water damages in these areas has also been identified. Both of these issues relate directly to the location of valley gutters and external rainwater outlets/downpipes.

Urgent work is now underway to address this damp and these leaks, otherwise efforts to restore the original paintwork will be jeopardised. These works are estimated to cost in the region of £154,893 and, using traditional repair techniques, it is hoped they will address the water ingress caused by defective rooves, valley gutters and rainwater goods at the east end of the Cathedral and water ingress issues that have been noted to the transepts, nave, sanctuary and north porch.

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Thanks to the Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation, the Cathedral has been awarded a grant of £92,903 from the British Church Fund towards these essential repairs. This Grant was awarded in light of the excellent work the Cathedral has been developing, through the Development Phase of its Restoring Pugin Project, to become a hub for outreach programmes involving children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This outreach has focused on improving opportunities in the heritage sector for young people in Nottingham with SEND and has including workshops, collaborations, advice sessions and a partnership with NTU that has led to the involvement over 30 students in academic and volunteering projects at the Cathedral.

Earlier this year, the Cathedral was also awarded £15,000 from Nottingham Civic Society, ring-fenced for roof repairs. An additional £4,875 has recently been awarded from the Benefact Trust, under the auspices of its ‘Empowering communities and preserving heritage’ workstream. And thanks to the generosity of parishioners, £6,364 has been pledged towards these important works.

Whilst the Cathedral Community is delighted to see these works underway, there is still £35,751 left to find to cover the total cost of the works. Cathedral Dean, Canon Malachy Brett, is therefore appealing for donations from interested parties to help meet this shortfall. If you are interested in making a donation, please see our DONATE page or contact the Cathedral Office at: cathedral@dioceseofnottingham.uk