Company carves out a name for itself in cloisters

A SYMPATHETIC conversion of the eastern arm of Chichester Cathedral's cloisters, and the adjoining St Faith's House, has been completed by Sussex-based specialist historic buildings contractor, Cathedral Works Organisation (CWO).

The company was recently commended for the project in the Repair and Restoration section of the Stone Federation’s Natural Stone Awards 2010.

CWO secured the contract to restore the Eastern Arm of the Cathedral Cloisters and the adjoining St Faith’s House in July 2009. The restoration project was funded by the Chichester Cathedral Restoration & Development Trust which relies on donations and fundraising to help preserve the beauty of this famous landmark. It was directed by architects and historic buildings consultants Molyneux Kerr, and Richard Meynell, Cathedral Architect.

The 15th Century Cloisters required essential repairs to the roof and windows.

The stonework on the windows showed extensive signs of weathering; CWO therefore removed the affected areas, replaced the stone and smoothed over and blended it for a homogenous effect.

The leaded lights were restored, with the glass removed, cleaned, conserved and the windows re-leaded.

Removing the entire roof, CWO salvaged as many of the original tiles as possible before retiling with the originals as well as other tiles salvaged from local buildings of the same period to maintain consistency.

With some of the timber also in a state of disrepair new oak pegs needed replacing where old ones had rotted away. In addition, the buttresses required careful restoration work and rebuilding.

To make the East Cloister a more useable space, CWO was also tasked with adding lighting, heating and power. All of these services have been carefully hidden away to maintain the original feel of antiquity.