A shining example

Clockwise from top left: Cutting the pipework notches in the new joists - quite a workout!; cutting insulation in the south aisle; cabling outside the choir vestry; grooved insulation for pipework, with a curve added for the pipes to return. The tiles on the right belong to the north aisle. There’ll be an oak trim between the new floor and the Victorian tiles.

What would those Benedictine monks of 1085 make of the Priory now?

The nave is positively glittering with two layers of underfloor insulation, the upper layer of which will support the underfloor heating pipes, reflecting the heat upwards through the floor.

And where there are pipes, there are notches, because pipes have to travel across joists. So this week the workers have been measuring and very carefully cutting hundreds, possibly thousands, of notches in the joists, to enable the underfloor heating pipework to be laid. Notch-cutting is a strenuous workout!

Cabling continues, too, future-proofing the Priory for tech.

Once the congregation and the community is sitting in the Priory, enveloped in the toasty-warmth of the new heating system, few will ever realised the huge amount of work that lies beneath their feet.