French-owned Artelia has been appointed by Canterbury Cathedral as Project Manager and Quantity Surveyor for the £20million 'Canterbury Journey' project.

Artelia UK is a wholly owned subsidiary of the French Groupe Artelia, which is owned by its managers and employees. The Group has more than 3,200 people working for it and boasts an annual turnover of more than €300million. It is one of the top French project management and engineering firms in the construction, infrastructure and environment sectors. Artelia’s global subsidiary network comprises 82 offices across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Canada and South America.

The 'Canterbury Journey' project has been awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £11.9million. The total project cost is budgeted at £19.4million, so the Canterbury Cathedral Trust has to raise £7.5million.

This prestigious scheme comprises a wide number of initiatives, from capital works on the Cathedral itself, which is built largely from French Caen limestone, the historic Precinct entrance of Christ Church Gate and Precincts’ landscaping, to a new Welcome Centre with café and community space.

A schools’ outreach and community engagement programme will be developed along with integrated visitor interpretation and the opening up of the historic collections held in the Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library. Recruitment and training programmes for apprentices, volunteers and staff will be included in the project.

The Canterbury Journey will complete urgent capital works and provide improved access to visitor and learning facilities.

Artelia will work with Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral throughout the £1million development phase in order to submit the HLF Stage 2 application by 30 April next year.

A positive outcome to that submission will see Artelia work to ensure the success of the project through the Delivery Phase, planned to be completed in 2021.