Cathedral contract signed

THERE were scenes of celebration on Wednesday last at St Columb's Cathedral when the contract was signed for the next stage of the historic building's restoration programme.

Once completed, the work will catapult the Cathedral into the modern age, while at the same time ensuring the historic nature of the Cathedral remains intact.

Welcoming the next phase, the Dean the Cathedral, Rev Dr William Morton said the Select Vestry and the entire congregation looked forward to the completion of the works.

"It promises to be a very challenging yet exciting year for us here in terms of the life of the church," he said, adding: "We are very pleased that Woodvale Construction are doing the work as they come to us with marvellous recommendation. I am familiar with other churches and buildings they have worked on and we are really thrilled that they are doing the work."

Also present at the signing was Andy Best, representing the NITB, which provided the key funding for the restoration, who said: "We are delighted to be providing the key funding for this project. The Cathedral is a key attraction for visitors to the City, so we see it as a high priority for us and our investment in the project reflects that..

"In the Walled City here we are involved with the six or seven 'Built Heritage Programme' buildings, and we also hope to be working with the St Columb's Cathedral School through the Cresco Trust, and we are close to starting work on First Derry Presbyterian Church. The Guildhall project is coming along and we are working with the Apprentice Boys' Memorial Hall and the Columcille Trust over at Longtower Church," he said.

Asked what the completed projects would mean for the City, he said: "It will make the City into an internationally competitive destination. This City is 'on the map' already, you can't deny that Londonderry is a well-renowned City and this will just improve the visitor experience for everyone."

Mr Best said the projects also enhanced the City's chances as the running for City of Culture 2013 heated up.

"It all brings the level and quality of the 'product' of the City up in line with that and the wish for the City to gain World Heritage status, which again, is a target for the City," he said.

Desmond Scott, of Woodvale Constructions Ltd, who is the main contractor for the works, set out his aims.

"First of all we are very pleased to have been awarded such a prestigious contract, and while there are some challenging aspects we are very keen to work with the Dean and all his staff, and also with the architects Mullarkey Pederson. We hope to carry out the contract within a 12-month period, and I would say the biggest challege will be the restoration work to the stonework. We have a fairly vast experience of working on churches and we hope that everything goes very smoothly on this one," he said.

Mr Scott said the historic nature of the Cathedral, the first Post-Reformation Cathedral in the world, provided 'fairly reasonable challenges' but he was 'quite confident' his men could work with all concerned towards a positive outcome on time and on budget

He said the Cathedral was by far the oldest building he and his team had ever worked on.

Karl Pederson, the architect involved in the project, said: "The project currently involves the completion of the restoration project. We started working on the restoration project a long time ago, around 10 years ago, but we actually started works on site for the restoration of the tower two years ago.

"This will see the restoration completed to all the remaining areas, including the stonework outside and inside, the plaster internally, the floor finishes, the roof and complete new services with regard to mechanical and electrical," he said.

He said the new lighting system would use LED technology, adding: "Hopefully when we have completed here we won't have to worry about the fabric of the building for quite a number of years."

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