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Durham Cathedral: Open Treasure design and conservation projects

Durham

Project Details

£10m to £49.99M

Practice

Purcell Architecture Ltd

St James Building , 79 Oxford Street , Manchester , M1 6FQ

Durham Cathedral is a Romanesque masterpiece that began construction in 1093 and has a collection of remarkable historic artefacts and objects. Purcell was appointed in 2010 to prepare a strategic masterplan for the Durham World Heritage Site and Durham Cathedral. Cathedral Architect, Christopher Cotton, is leading a number of strategically coordinated projects developed under the Open Treasure masterplan. These have included the £8m Heritage Lottery Fund development to reorder the cathedral's west end and build a new shop, restaurant and exhibition spaces. Purcell took great care when designing lighting and selecting new materials to ensure that they were sympathetic to the Cathedral's architecture. The new shop was created within the 13th century undercroft and enclosed with glazed screens. Stonework conservation and repair works to the Great Monastic Kitchen and Monks Dormitory are complete. The belfry stage of the central tower is currently undergoing external stonework repairs, a WW1 Centenary Repairs Fund project.