Salford’s historic Roman Catholic cathedral is preparing to open its doors following a £20 million restoration.
St John’s Cathedral on Chapel Street has been closed for three years while extensive repair work has been carried out to return the place of worship to its former glory and create more space for visitors.
After dominating the Salford skyline for more than 175 years, the cathedral building was in urgent need of significant restoration to address longstanding repairs required to fix its deteriorating stonework and towering infrastructure.
It was originally scheduled to reopen in December 2024, but the extent of the renovation work proved greater than expected. At long last, it will open its doors to the public again on 4 July.
Pauline Morgan, the Chief Operating Officer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford, told Salford Now the spectacular revamp will allow 200 more people to worship in the building at any one time.
“The local parish community is growing, so we really expect that the extra capacity will be filled and people will want to come and see the Cathedral,” she said.
Over time, many of the cathedral’s original features had been lost, and so an important aspect of the project was to restore the church’s original paint scheme and stained-glass windows, reinstating colour and character to renew the sacred ambience of this important place of worship.
Sitting on a pew, under the 2,344 stars adorning the inside of the cathedral’s ceiling, Pauline pointed out that the altar has been moved backwards and said it is “really lovely” that the canon’s stalls and choir area have returned to the sanctuary.
“The structure is still the same with lots of the original features,” she explained. “There’s a lot of the furniture that was in the cathedral before and some of the furniture from the other parish church which closed a few years ago.”
For Pauline, who joined the diocese seven years ago, the mammoth restoration was among the first major projects she was tasked to oversee as the authorities’ Chief Operating Officer.
“I’ve known the cathedral for a long time, but this three-year journey that we’ve been on, I’ve been a part of that on the committee that’s looked after it all the way through,” she said.
“I would say that the biggest hurdles we faced came in making the building structurally sound again. That’s where the majority of the funding has gone.
“When we started to explore the building and really looked at it, we had to plaster more than we thought we had to do. We had to point more of the building than we thought we had to do, and there were repairs to pinnacles that we didn’t know needed carrying out until we got up there.
“Making the building sustainable and structurally sound has cost the most.”
Pauline said the diocese had been mindful of managing the project’s costs while ensuring its other listed buildings were properly maintained.
“Each time you turn a stone you find something else,” she said, laughing. “We are always really conscious about managing the cost of this building against all of our other buildings across the diocese buildings and we have to keep that in mind.
The cathedral closed in July 2023 to allow for work to be carried out to the building’s interior.
In the meantime, the parish moved into a temporary church within the grounds of the cathedral in Great George Street, maintaining all Masses, services, and community outreach, occasionally drawing as many as 700 worshippers into the smaller space.
The building work was expected to be completed in late 2024, but the extent of the exterior stone and roof repairs alongside unexpected setbacks meant that the project has taken three years to complete.
“How quickly is it going to open? Why is it taking so long?’ Those are the questions we have been asked all the time throughout the project,” Pauline explained.
Since the start of the year, we have seen excitement swell up a lot, and more people get interested in the project.”
It is hoped that the cathedral will be a “destination” that will pull people of different faiths through the doors to admire the visually stunning interior.
The diocese says that “state-of-the-art technology” has been used to tackle the challenges of climate change that could affect the building.
Whilst the majority of the work was carried out to the fabric of the building, including the essential repair and cleaning of the stonework, the roof, the pinnacles, gutters, and windows, visitors are set to see a dramatic change to the overall aesthetic of this much-loved church.
This includes a new, energy-efficient exterior lighting scheme, the restoration and repainting of original statues, redecoration of the interior, repositioning of key features, and a new glass door on Chapel Street to project a sense of peace and welcome into the bustling city of Salford.
Purcell Architects and Simpsons of York were commissioned to complete the restoration project.
The Diocese expressed their delight in the “sympathetic restoration of its original beauty” and application of modern building standards and technologies to make the space accessible to future generations of worshippers.
“Our team has worked closely with the cathedral’s unique character, carefully restoring lost features, enhancing the fabric of the building, and promoting sustainable improvements throughout”, a spokesperson from Simpsons of York said.
“The cathedral, built in an era before sustainability was a consideration, was poorly insulated and not watertight.
“Its transformation has created a building that is now fit for purpose, reflecting the sustainable ambitions prioritised by the Diocese of Salford while honouring this remarkable piece of Salford’s heritage.
“We look forward to seeing the cathedral reopen and have felt truly privileged to be involved in these works.”
Bishop of Salford, the Right Reverend John Arnold, hopes the cathedral will be a place of welcome and community for people across Salford and beyond.
“The restoration of our mother church has been one of the most significant and necessary undertakings of our diocese in recent years,” he said.
“Many parts of the cathedral were in poor condition, no longer watertight, with failing masonry, and as custodians of this remarkable building, we have a responsibility to preserve the fabric of the cathedral for future generations, in line with our diocesan commitment to sustainability, and to enhance the sacred experience for those in our diocese.”
Due to the extent of the repair work needed, the project cost more than £20 million, with most of the funds going towards external repairs. Restoration costs have been met from diocesan reserves alongside a generous legacy gift from the Albert Gubay Foundation.
“We hope our newly-restored cathedral will be a place of welcome and community for all across the city and the Diocese of Salford,” added the Bishop.
