Dyer & Butler completes lift installation works within Winchester Cathedral

Dyer & Butler, a multi-disciplined engineering services specialist focused on essential infrastructure including airports, railways and highways and part of M Group Services, has completed the complex installation of a passenger lift within Winchester Cathedral as part of an £11.5 million lottery funded project.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund scheme has transformed the south transept of Winchester Cathedral to create a fully-accessible three-level exhibition space, with the passenger lift being a fundamental element of the renovation and the first to feature within the body of a medieval cathedral in the UK.

Delivering the work within a heritage building presented the Dyer & Butler project team with a number of engineering complexities; construction phases included conservation work and alterations to the historic fabric.

The lift posed a significant technical challenge to the team as well as an aesthetic one. The south transept has a history of movement; one of the most popular character’s in the history of the cathedral, the diver William Walker, famously underpinned this part of the cathedral in the early 1900s. Upon beginning design works, the team discovered that the lift shaft could not rely on the cathedral for support and needed to be designed as a self-supporting structure with a clear air gap between the shaft and the medieval vault.

A 17th-century staircase was carefully dismantled and modified to accommodate the lift and new mezzanine. The lift pit was excavated by hand by the cathedral archaeologist, allowing Dyer & Butler to assemble a piling rig inside the south transept to form eight 15m deep piles and a 9m deep bore hole for the hydraulic ram. The medieval vault above was propped whilst a hole was cut through it. The cathedral fabric was constantly monitored for movement.

Daily business of the cathedral continued as usual throughout the works.

Dyer & Butler Divisional Director, Steve Wilson, commented: “This was a complex engineering project for Dyer & Butler. We thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work on the structure of this medieval building so rife with history, particularly knowing how beneficial the lift will be in making the Cathedral accessible to all visitors. We are delighted with the end result and how it complements the overall renovation of the Cathedral.”