Urgent repairs to our roof completed thanks to WW1 centenary fund
Liverpool Cathedral received £275,000 from the First WW1 centenary cathedral repairs fund back in November 2014. The award has been used to finance much needed repair work to the Lady Chapel and Nave roofs.
The urgent repairs to the Nave West Bay roof were completed as the first priority. Exposed to the elements – and in particular the high winds that buffet the side of the cathedral - this area has suffered from considerable storm damage over the years. Regular inspections revealed that the copper panels which cover a large part of the roof had lifted in places, allowing water to seep through. The grant has enabled emergency repairs to be carried out in order to prevent further deterioration whilst we look for additional funding to complete the entire work.
The remainder of the award was then used to repair parts of the cathedral’s oldest roof - that of the Lady Chapel. The timber in this roof structure is subjected to many small, persistent leaks in the copper. This repair work involved re-covering part of the damaged copper roof. This work was completed on Monday and pictured is contractor Ged Tully who has been overseeing the specialist construction of the work. He said “Water ingress in the roof causes a considerable threat to any building, not one that is least a Grade I listed. We have to follow a stringent method of working with only designated permitted materials to comply with the Grade 1 listing. It is a meticulous process but a necessary one to preserve the history and integrity of this incredible building for future generations.”
This work all forms part of the constant repair challenge associated with being guardians of the largest cathedral in the UK, widely regarded as one of the great buildings of the world.