‘Our Cathedral, Our City’:  Newssheet No. 1, September 2025

The  Dean and Chapter and the Cathedral’s project board are delighted to announce that the Cathedral has been awarded a Development Phase grant of £571,883 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to support the next stage of the Cathedral’s development project. 

The purpose of the grant is to assist the preparation of a Stage 2 bid that will unlock the major funding for the Delivery Phase.  This newsletter is intended to let everyone connected with the Cathedral have up to date information on what is happening, and more will follow.

The purposes of the Cathedral’s development project are to make the Cathedral more accessible and more welcoming, to improve the facilities for visitors, staff and volunteers, and to build new and stronger relations with the internal and external communities.

The work will be undertaken in fulfilment of the NLHF four investment principles of saving heritage; protecting the environment; greater inclusion, access and participation; and improved organisational sustainability. We owe grateful thanks to all those who buy Lottery tickets, without whom there would no NLHF funding.

As many people know, the development project has been worked on for years, and has significantly evolved over such a long period. During the Development Phase, however, there will be no visible signs of work in the Cathedral, since the funding for capital expenditure comes at Delivery. 

For the next two years, as work on the Stage 2 bid gets under way, there will be pilot projects with the community that will involve staff and volunteers, additional appointments made to enable the planning of the capital works and driving forward the activity plan, and much consultation with all those involved in the life of the Cathedral.

The plan is to submit the Stage 2 bid in the late summer of 2027, so that the capital works can begin in early 2028 and last for up to three years. The ordering of the work is yet to be fully worked out, but the likelihood is that the South-East Range (Champness and Worthington) will be remodelled first, including much improved working conditions for staff, more commercial space, and better safeguarding. 

Next will come more modest changes to the Regimental Chapel, primarily about access. Finally the West End will undergo significant alteration, including the means of access through the West Door, publicly available toilets, dedicated space and facilities for volunteers, and community space.

At the conclusion of the project, the Cathedral should be transformed in the facilities it can offer, confident of its future sustainability, and much more embedded with the external community than has ever before been possible.

Any questions or thoughts about the project should initially be directed to Anthony O’Connor, Director of Fundraising and Development at beapartofit@manchestercathedral.org