St Albans Cathedral receives praise for its restoration work

1st January 2017

St Albans Cathedral has received the St Albans Civic Society’s Trevelyan Prize Commendation 2016 for the cleaning and restoration of the Cathedral’s west front at a special ceremony on 11th October.  Cliveden Conservation and Richard Griffiths Architects were recognised as part of this prestigious award for their exceptional conservation and restoration work on the project.

Praise has been given to everyone involved in the outstanding conservation and restoration of St Albans Cathedral’s west front. The judges were impressed with the high level of care and skill which was required to restore this important heritage building situated in the heart of the city.

Cliveden Conservation worked alongside Richard Griffiths Architects to rectify the issues surrounding the Victorian rebuilding of the west front of the Cathedral when the Norman and medieval structure was last renovated. The cleaning of the whole façade provided an opportunity to repair, repoint and minimise the inherent deficiencies in the Victorian fabric.

Special attention was given to the interior porches to clean the stone and replace unsightly pigeon prevention measures with unobtrusive wires and netting to blend in with the masonry. Structural work included pinning the cracks and filling open joints with lime mortar. Carving repairs were also carried out to the foliate capitals and carved heads in the porches.

As part of the project all the doors to the St Albans Cathedral were cleaned, repaired and painted red, the Great West Window was cleaned both sides and new lead flashing and gutters were installed. Finally, a new lighting system was fitted which highlights the freshly cleaned façade and porches.

Everyone involved with the project was incredibly proud with the results explains Lewis Proudfoot, Stone Section Manager, Cliveden Conservation:

“Our team of masons and conservators are delighted that all their hard work has been acknowledged by St Albans Civic Society’s Trevelyan Prize Commendation. Every inch of the façade was cleaned with painstaking care and an immense amount of effort was made to match the stone repairs to the original fabric of the building.”

This latest project, which demonstrates conservation and restoration to its finest standard, is just one of the major conservation projects which have been carried out to St Albans Cathedral which is famous for its wonderful heritage and welcomes over 180,000 visitors each year.

“The Cathedral community is delighted with the restoration and re-lighting of the West end, and we are very pleased that the project has been commended by the St Albans Civic Society’s Trevelyan Prize committee. It is a tribute to all those who executed the work to such a high standard,” says the Very Reverend Dr. Jeffrey John.