Salford Cathedral Restoration Featured in Conservation & Heritage Journal

We're proud to share that our Salford Cathedral restoration is the subject of a three-page feature in Issue 52 of the Conservation & Heritage Journal, out now.

The feature tells the story of the floor at the heart of the Restoring the Glory project — the multi-million-pound restoration of the Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist that reopened its doors on 4 July after three years of closure. It's a project we've been closely involved with throughout, working alongside conservation architects Purcell, main contractor Simpson of York, tile-maker Craven Dunnill Jackfield, quarry specialist Haysom Purbeck Stone, and ARDEX/BAL.

The Salford Cathedral Restoration: A Floor Built on Collaboration

Handcrafted encaustic tiles by Craven Dunnill Jackfield were fixed and grouted alongside contrasting Grub and Thornback Purbeck limestone from Haysom Purbeck Stone, installed over a Jupiter dry underfloor heating system using ARDEX and BAL tiling systems — the first time the cathedral has been continuously heated since 1850.

Bringing it together meant working to setting-out tolerances tighter than standard domestic work, inside a Grade II* listed building with no straight walls, a single-skip site compound, and a live programme running close behind. Every partner on this project brought something the others depended on, and it shows in the finished floor — as we covered when the cathedral reopened, it's a floor that has already moved its first visitors to tears.

What makes the feature different

Rather than tell our own story, the journal feature lets the project team speak for itself. The architect, the main contractor, the tile-maker and the quarry manager each independently describe the precision of the Salford Cathedral restoration — from setting-out tolerances measured in millimetres to the scale of coordinating five specialist contractors across a building where nothing is square.

It's the kind of endorsement that means more coming from the people who worked alongside us than from us.

Read the full issue

You can read the complete Issue 52 of the Conservation & Heritage Journal, including our Salford Cathedral feature, here: Read Issue 52 of the Conservation & Heritage Journal

This sits alongside our wider coverage of the restoration and video coverage of the project — with the full case study and video interviews with the architect, main contractor, tile manufacturer, quarry supplier and tiling systems provider still to come.

ABM Tiling is a specialist heritage tiling and natural stone installation contractor. Read more about our scope and approach on the Salford Cathedral project page, see our wider refurbishment and heritage work, or get in touch to discuss a heritage project of your own.