A major £1.5 million scheme to provide a café, shop, heritage centre and improved accommodation for priests at Shrewsbury’s Roman Catholic Cathedral has been completed by a local company with specialist skills.

Shrewsbury-based Morris Property, supported by its Morris Joinery team, carried out the demolition, rebuilding and refurbishment work over 11 months, carefully respecting its heritage.

Two adjacent Grade II listed houses in Belmont, dating from around 1800, were transformed to provide living quarters, offices and meeting rooms for the Catholic Diocese. The café, shop and heritage centre, open to the local community and visitors, were formed in a replacement basement extension. Landscaping and parking completed the scheme designed by architects Arrol & Snell.

Ian Carswell, Contracts Manager at Morris Property, said: “This was an important project for the Cathedral, its community and its many visitors and a prestigious tender to have won.

“There are always challenges in such projects but we have the knowledge and skills to find a way to work with the design team to meet them. For example when we installed large steel channels with new floor joists to the attic floor we had to safeguard the ceiling with its ornate coving in the room below to ensure there was no damage.”

Morris Property is a leading construction and development company with a 100 year heritage of creating new-build, contemporary developments and sensitively converting, restoring and refurbishing landmark buildings. Its joinery team of craftsmen offer a full range of domestic and commercial services.

For more information about Morris Property and it’s services, visit morrisproperty.co.uk