£1.5 million work complete at Shrewsbury’s Roman Catholic Cathedral
A £1.5 million renovation of Shrewsbury’s Roman Catholic Cathedral has been completed.
The work, to provide a café, shop, heritage centre and improved accommodation for priests, has been finished at the cathedral at Belmont.
Shrewsbury-based Morris Property, supported by its Morris Joinery team, carried out the demolition, rebuilding and refurbishment work over 11 months.
Two neighbouring Grade II listed houses in Belmont, dating from around 1800, have been transformed to provide living quarters, offices and meeting rooms for the Catholic Diocese.
The café, shop and heritage centre, open to the local community and visitors, were formed in a replacement basement extension.
The Bishop of Shrewsbury, Mark Davies, welcomed the work and said it would allow the church to support people wanting to join the priesthood.
He said: "I hope the openness of the new entrance and the visitor facilities will both enable this mother church of the diocese to be a place of welcome and allow an increasing number of visitors to glimpse the joy and beauty of our faith.
“Among all the new developments at the cathedral, we have created a space where men can come for a year or a shorter period to discern the vocation to the priesthood. We want this support of the vocation to the priesthood to be placed at the heart of our Shrewsbury Diocese."
Bishop Davies added: “Among the new signage directing people to the entrance or the visitors centre and café, I asked that the most important sign and direction be written on the new doors of the Cathedral: ‘Deo Omnis Gloria’ – All glory to God. May this be so in time and for all eternity”."
The cathedral on Town Walls, was designed by Edward Pugin and consecrated in 1856.
Ian Carswell, contracts manager at Morris Property, said they were delighted to have completed the work.
He said: "This was an important project for the cathedral, its community and its many visitors, and a prestigious tender to have won.
"There are always challenges in such projects but we have the knowledge and skills to find a way to work with the design team to meet them. For example when we installed large steel channels with new floor joists to the attic floor, we had to safeguard the ceiling with its ornate coving in the room below to ensure there was no damage."
The cathedral was awarded a £280,000 grant in 2015 for repairs to the roof.
The venue has the full name of The Cathedral Church of Our Lady Help of Christians and St Peter of Alcantara,
