Cathedrals need £100m of maintenance work
Six of England's most significant cathedrals will need around £100m worth of maintenance work over the next decade, offering opportunities for skilled construction workers and labourers.
Canterbury, York, Salisbury, Chichester, Winchester and Lincoln Cathedrals are all in urgent need of repair according to English Heritage's Cathedral Fabric Survey 2009.
Canterbury Cathedral alone needs £16 million worth of repairs in the next decade. The English Heritage survey predicts that a further £34m will be needed to safeguard the building's historic architecture for future generations.
York, Winchester and Lincoln need £8m, £4million and £13m of urgent repairs respectively. Salisbury Cathedral and Chichester require £15 million and £10 million of work.
Restoring and preserving these buildings will require a high degree of maintenance expertise. Skilled stoneworkers and glaziers are in the highest demand, but other work may be needed to implement modern preservation techniques to the ancient buildings. As well as insulation workers may be need to supply electricity, heating and lighting - without compromising the heritage of the building.
Outside of these six areas of concern, the English Heritage says that rest of the country's 61 cathedrals are in good repair. The chief executive of the English Heritage, Dr Simon Thurley, said that they were probably in "better condition than they have been for a century". This is thanks to a programme which has seen over £250 million of investment in essential maintenance and stonework for Britain's 61 cathedrals since 1991.
Over the next year it is likely that construction firms will be contracted to help carry out the most urgent repairs, with many more opportunities on offer as time progresses and upkeep becomes an issue. The scale of the work is such that it will provide employment for construction workers, labourers and engineers for decades.
In the foreword to the survey, the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster, Rowan Williams and Vincent Nichols, explained the dilemma of maintaining the historic buildings in the present day.
The clergymen pointed out that they are no longer strictly "places of pilgrimage; many are also the focus of great national or civic events. They are cultural centres, and these days, tourist attractions".
"As public buildings, cathedrals are expected to meet certain standards and to provide modern facilities. Such a brief is not easy to fulfill."