Cathedral Press Release

The Cathedrals’ Fabric Commission for England (CFCE), at its meeting on June 25th, approved the plans for development of Southwark Cathedral’s buildings to the north of the church, adjacent to the river Thames. On July 1st, the London Borough of Southwark’s Planning Committee also gave its approval to the scheme. The new buildings will be on the site of the historic monastic cloister. The project has been given grant assistance by the Millennium Commission who committed £3.9 million in co-funding in November 1997. The Commission’s support provides an opportunity unique in the history of the Cathedral.

The additional facilities include a Visitor Centre interpreting the history of the Cathedral and riverside, improved provision for school groups, a Refectory, and a theological library. In giving its permission, the CFCE makes particular mention of, and approves, the difficult decision to reconstruct a part of the present 1980’s Chapter House in order to achieve disabled access and a major northern entrance, and to recover a view of the north transept and window from the river and London Bridge. The Southwark Council Planning Committee took particular note of the changes in areas of land designated as public open spaces and accepted the Cathedral’s plan to provide larger landscaped green garden areas to the east of the Cathedral in addition to significant improvement to the northern riverside and the present southern churchyard.

The Provost of Southwark, the Very Reverend Colin Slee is delighted by these two encouraging decisions which will enable the Cathedral’s ministry to be enlarged for the local community, congregation, diocese and visitors.

The Millennium Project enables the Cathedral to play its full part in the astonishing regeneration of the south bank of the Thames. Southwark has always been the Cinderella cathedral in London despite being the oldest Gothic church. This project is concerned with visibility, accessibility and welcome. Cleaning and floodlighting the Cathedral Church will increase awareness of the building. Easy access for people with disability has been a cornerstone of the planning process. All areas of the Cathedral, Chapter House, new cloister and churchyard will become accessible; a disability audit is being used to ensure that we meet the needs of those with mobility difficulties and sensory deprivation.

The new Visitor Centre will enable visitors to learn about Southwark’s history of players and poets, prostitutes, paupers and prisons, pilgrims and patients, and their interaction with the Cathedral which has stood at the heart of the community for 1,000 years. The Visitor Centre, together with improved rooms and access in the new building, will be used to develop the work of the Cathedral’s Education Centre , helping more children to understand the history of Southwark. For the first time, there will be a proper theological library open to those attending courses at the Cathedral and to members of the public. The Cathedral plans to establish a girls’ choir to parallel the excellent boys’ choir and to continue to host work with areas of social need, enlarging its present involvement with addiction, homelessness and HIV/AIDS. A new shop and refectory will assist hospitality as well as generating an income for maintenance of the Cathedral.

The Provost hopes that those who built the 1980’s Chapter House will see the Millennium Project as an extension of their original vision for developing the Cathedral’s work. The new buildings and changes to the present ones, as well as the improvements to the churchyard environment, will enable the Cathedral to respond to current and future opportunities.

The Cathedral has secured the assistance of the fund-raising firm Craigmyle to guide it in raising the matching funding.

Work on the scheme will begin with an archaeological dig on the site of the new Refectory and Library wing, the only remaining unexplored land of the original monastic cloisters; any significant finds will be incorporated into the basement of the new building and open to public view. Construction will commence in 1999 and the project will be completed in the autumn of the year 2000.