St Peter’s Cathedral

A prominent part of the city scape of Adelaide is the Anglican Cathedral of St Peter’s located in North Adelaide. Built in several stages between 1869 and 1910, this major gothic building is the centre of Anglican Church in South Australia as the seat of the Archbishop.

Swanbury Penglase were privileged to be appointed as the Cathedral architects in 2016 being only the third firm to have this distinction in the 150 year life of the building. We were appointed largely due to our comprehensive experience and knowledge about the conservation and repair of these types of structures.

Working to make the existing conservation strategy a reality we have been involved with the following:

Researching the nature of the construction of the building, including accessing drawings, specifications and correspondence from the original Cathedral Architect’s archive

High level inspection of the roof, lantern and towers to confirm the nature and extent of current problems

Development of a strategy to provide cost effective access to the roof for regular maintenance

Development of new access pathways around the building with associated landscaping works to aid in improving maintenance and disability access

Scoping and documentation of staged works for the repair and part replacement of the slate roof, associated stormwater disposal system, masonry repairs and integrating seismic bracing of the roof structures. Due to the need to match the existing slate, this also included arranging a special on-off order to match the existing imperial length from the original quarry in Wales.

Stage 1 of the anticipated 7 year programme is currently underway.

Internal render repairs

Design works for new timber joinery casework for the Cathedral organ as part of the current organ restoration project.