Contractor sought for deanery

Blackburn Cathedral has published the invitation to tender for the £5m residential project in the cathedral grounds due to house senior clergy and lay staff, the first such new building in the country for more than 500 years.

An existing building will be demolished to make way for Clergy Court, which will contain four houses, including a deanery, six apartments and 10 bed spaces for music scholars. There will also be cathedral offices, a refectory, a garden and underground car park. Mace Group is advising Blackburn Cathedral.

Clergy Court, designed by Purcell, will be free-standing but will touch the Cathedral. The external treatment will be a mix of stone and lime render.

The project is being delivered by Blackburn Cathedral Developments and is part of the wider Blackburn Cathedral Quarter, separate phases of which are proposed by Maple Grove Developments. Maple Grove plans 118,000 sq ft of new space including a hotel, restaurants, shops, new bus interchange, 37,000 sq ft of offices.

Dean of Blackburn, the very Reverend Christopher Armstrong, said: "We are delighted that this milestone in the process of regeneration of the Cathedral Quarter has been achieved in these particularly testing times. It is great news for the Cathedral and for Blackburn. The Cathedral had always hoped it could deliver this vision and now it looks sure to proceed. I would like to thank the other partners, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, the HCA and Maple Grove, all of whom have worked tirelessly to bring about this significant regeneration project."

Clergy Court is expected to take 18 months to build. The deadline for expressions of interest is 29 July.

The procurement is being run online through the Delta eSourcing system