Exeter Cathedral, 2020s Development Project
Opening doors to an iconic Cathedral
For the past 1000 years, Exeter Cathedral has stood as the most significant building in Devon. Original parts remain to this day, including both towers and the lower part of the Nave walls, along with the results of major Gothic rebuilds dating from the 13th and 14th centuries.
In 2019, a new Development Project was called for to improve visitors’ experience and understanding of the Cathedral. Now well underway, the project aims at creating new activities and outreach initiatives for visitors. To achieve this, major interventions to the fabric of the building were needed.
Over the past six years, our work has focused on the East End of the Cathedral, the Chapter House, the Cloister Gallery link corridor and the conservation of the 13th century Misericords.
Project Lead
Project Team
- Value £12m
- Location Devon
- Client Dean and Chapter of Exeter Cathedral
- Completion Ongoing
Repairs and upgrades
Spanning several phases, our input so far has covered multiple areas, from design to conservation and rearrangement. In terms of conservation works, a repair programme was put together for the Misericords in the Quire.
The lighting and heating system throughout the Cathedral were also replaced and upgraded to improve visitors' experience and enhance the architecture’s visibility.
Multiple additions
Other sections had to be rearranged and adapted to welcome new spaces. A new Cloister Gallery was designed using a stone arcade built off the old medieval foundations of the earlier walk, along with an oak-framed roof and heated limecrete floor.
The vestries to the south were reordered to provide new WCs and storage space via a sensitive intervention of steel frame and zinc roof.
The Chapel, Pearson Cloister and Chapter House were rearranged to include a new shop, thriving café and a new first floor exhibition.
