External view of new Trinity Rooms from Trinity Square
We are pleased to announce that Hull Minster has been awarded £3.9m by Highways England to complete the Minster’s remarkable transformation into a hub for the city’s history, heritage and community.
The grant award comes from Highways England’s Designated Fund for Environment and Cultural Heritage, which is linked to major roads schemes and is intended to enhance the local environment and support cultural heritage.
The work will not only safeguard the Minster’s precious heritage for future generations, it will also boost the drawing power for local people and tourists alike and position the church to achieve long-term financial sustainability.
With work set to start this Spring, the Minster will be restored, renovated and extended to fulfil its rich potential. The entire project will take 2 years to complete and includes;
Archaeological excavations and investigations in the south west corner of the Minster, where the extension will be built. This dig is expected to reveal medieval remains and architecture associated with the first buildings on the site.
Construction of a flexible visitor and heritage centre extension with exhibition spaces, a café and other new visitor facilities.
New facilities to make the choir vestry a flexible education and learning centre for use by the Minster’s choir, school groups and community organisations.
Exterior renovations to the fabric of the church, including cleaning and restoration of masonry on the grand west side of the church, facing onto Trinity Square.
Internal repairs and redecoration to safeguard heritage monuments and features.
Curation and display, to museum standards, of more than 100 complete remains unearthed from the redevelopment of Trinity Square in 2016, which are currently kept in the church’s crypt.
Re-roofing the leaking vestry block, to halt deterioration of the internal heritage.
Landscaping and resurfacing works.
Creation of a community garden on South Church Side. The garden will be maintained by volunteers from the Rooted in Hull community group and provide homegrown fruit and vegetables for the new café.
Installation of a modern, 3 phased electrical supply system so the Minster can stage a wider range of events within the church and outside in Trinity Square.
Disabled access ramps
A secure, covered cycle store for use by staff, volunteers and visitors.
New signage to communicated events and activities.
The construction of new furniture to accommodate a variety of storage spaces.
“This is wonderful news for the Minster and the city of Hull. It will enable us to fulfil the Minster’s potential to be a hub for visitors and tourists to the historic Old Town. Maintaining a heritage asset is very expensive and draws resources away from the core work of the church, so this grant is particularly useful in sustaining our mission to be a positive force and a place of care, compassion and support. It means we can now put more of our own resources into our outreach work, our education programmes and our support for the most isolated and vulnerable members of our community.”
New visitor and heritage centre extension showing heritage displays and café.
New visitor and heritage centre extension showing the flexibility of the space.
“It was my privilege and joy to join the people of Hull for the re-designation of Holy Trinity Church as Hull Minster in 2017. In doing so, it was my prayer that Hull Minster was to be a place of blessing, witness and prayer for the city of Hull and all humankind. Please join me in praise and thanksgiving to God for this Highways England grant which represents further growth in the partnership between Hull Minster and the local community it serves.”
Support
It is thanks to the magnificent support of donors over the past 4 years that we have already completed so much of our essential work, enabling us to demonstrate to Highways England the financial support received from local, regional and national donors, and the manner in which our professional advisers have so successfully converted our dreams into reality. Without those achievements to date, and without their support, we would never have earned the opportunity to finish our task.
Continued success
The third phase of Hull Minster’s Amazing Transformation follows on from the successful completion of the first two; reordering of Trinity Square by Hull City Council in 2016 and the reordering of our Nave and upgrading of facilities for the benefit of worshippers and the community of Hull alike in 2018. Never before have we been in a position to serve the community in a variety of ways. Below is a slide show so to illustrate what the two phases have enabled;
