THE PROJECT to restore Coventry’s historic Charterhouse is well on the way to being completed.
Fittingly the company carrying out the work on the £10million attraction, which is on course to be completed later this year, is Daly Engineering Services – one of the city’s oldest construction firms.
It was founded in 1907 and has spent nearly three years working to install new mechanical and engineering services at Charterhouse.
The Grade I listed building is being fully restored and updated by Historic Coventry Trust along with Coventry City Council and the community.
The Charterhouse is England’s only Carthusian monastery to have the interior intact, with three large wall paintings and evidence of further monastic and Elizabethan decoration uncovered under layers of paint and plaster during the works.
New attractions will include interactive displays charting the site’s history, starting with its founding by King Richard II in 1385.
The inner precinct will also be relandscaped as a walled garden.
The building will act as the focal point of the new 70-acre Charterhouse Heritage Park along the banks of the River Sherbourne.
Daly Engineering Services’ managing director Peter Hucker has been so impressed with the project the company has donated £20,000 towards the ongoing work.
He said: “I have known all about Charterhouse for a long time because I have attended training courses there in my earlier career so I have been in the building many times.
“It has been a really interesting project to work on because of the architectural and historical values which mean there are stringent conditions to adhere to since it is Grade I listed.
“We are really looking forward to seeing the final results.”
Historic Coventry Trust chairman Ian Harrabin has encouraged other local businesses and organisations to donate to the project.
“Charterhouse was the reason the Historic Coventry Trust was set up over 10 years ago and we are in the final months of completing the work at one of Coventry’s most important and ancient sites.
“We would like to thank Peter and his team for their painstaking work on Charterhouse as well as their generosity.”
