Planning approval granted for HLF project at Lincoln Cathedral

Planning permission has been granted for a HLF-funded project to boost visitors to Lincoln Cathedral.

The ‘Lincoln Cathedral Connected’ project will radically improve the Cathedral’s setting and visitor experience and is the most ambitious plan to develop tourism at the city’s iconic building for more than a generation.

The plans will see the creation of a new interpretation centre, restaurant, and gift shop. The project will also fund major repair conservation work and extensive landscaping which will create new outdoor zones and open areas, such as the Dean’s green, to the public for the first time.

As conservation architects to the project, Buttress will lead the conservation work to the West Front and the Southern Run of the Romanesque Frieze, one of the most important pieces of early medieval carving in the country. The practice will also oversee major repair work to the 14^th century Excherquergate Arch, which leads visitors into the Cathedral Close.

The project hopes to bring an additional 125,000 visitors to the Cathedral each year by 2020, helping bolster the regional economy.

Consecrated in the 11^th century, Lincoln Cathedral is the third largest cathedral in the country and one of the finest surviving medieval cathedrals in Northern Europe. Director, Nicholas Rank, has been Architect and Surveyor to the Fabric at Lincoln since 1996, managing an active programme of repair, restoration and conservation to the cathedral and close properties.