👷Work starts on the Undercroft
Added at 19:19 on 18 March 2026
Two years after the Library reopened in 2024 following major exterior restoration, we are now about to start on the Undercroft. Contractors will be on site from Monday 23 March. The work is expected to take several weeks.
The full restoration plan has a number of phases, major exterior restoration, then preparing the Undercroft fabric and interior into a usable space, followed by a fit-out to include a visitor reception area, displays and improved disabled access. Finally, we shall need to re-harl with lime when the building has dried out sufficiently. We had hoped to start the Undercroft work earlier, but we have had to overcome affordability issues, notwithstanding some generous grants received towards the work. Contractor tenders last August came in at about 50% over what we hoped, and we then had to cut back our plans to fit our means. The three-year window for our planning consent for Undercroft works expires next month, so it was important to make a start. There are existing records of medieval stones and drainage beneath the Undercroft floor, so an archaeologist will be in attendance. We hope this will not impede the project too much.
We do not have enough money to go on to undertake the fit out and we only hold about a third of the anticipated cost of reharling in grant funding. Clearly, we need to continue fundraising for capital works to complete the full programme.
These current works will include:
• lowering the floor to provide better headroom and disabled access
• opening up the bricked-up doorway to make it the main entrance, with new doors
• opening up and glazing the ancient window at the High Street end, discovered
during earlier works
• removing the modern cement pointing in the vaulted ceiling and replacing with lime
mortar
• dado panelling to conceal services, with new electrics and ducting
Architect’s drawings shown on this page. Note the interior design is for illustration only.
We have been assured by the contractors that they will enable visitor access to the first
floor during the works, so we plan to reopen for visitors on 1 April.
Alastair MacDonald Leighton Library Restoration Lead March 2026