Warwick Pethers: tradition is about the future as well as the past

If there was one message Warwick Pethers wanted his audience at the Donovan Purcell Lecture to take away with them it was, he said, that tradition is about the future, as well as the past.

Warwick, of The Gothic Design Practice he set up with the intention of completing the tower on Bury St Edmunds Cathedral started by Stephen Dykes Bower in 1958, was presenting this year\'s Donovan Purcell Lecture at the Natural History Museum, London, last month (October).

The work to complete the conversion of the church into a cathedral started following the creation of the diocese of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich in 1914. Warwick Pethers\' contribution, brought into reality by Ketton Architectural Stone & Masonry of Stamford, Lincoln-shire, uses traditional solid wall construction with lime mortar.

In a project inspired by the medieval work of the original building it might not be considered a difficult choice to make to use lime mortar, but Warwick said: "To stand 100ft of masonry on lime joints and expect them to perform is not something we would have been brave enough to try without Michael."

He is referring to Michael Wingate, an architect who was consulted about the mortars and came up with a 26-page specification using relatively weak English hydraulic limestone from the company Hl2.

Warwick said as a result of this project he had become a convert to "this lime malarkey".

As Dykes Bower\'s last assistant, Warwick had become involved with the project long before forming his own practice. He showed pictures of Dykes Bower\'s original drawings for the tower, which included a spire and a clock. Warwick progressed the design but has remained faithful to Dykes Bower\'s original intention that the new build should be sympathetic to the existing building. "Not identical, but seamless," said Warwick.

He described the cathedral as a "hobnail boot building", by which he meant it was heavy but the loads were spread thinly. In fact, he said, there was no more weight at any one point than if it were a bungalow.

The tower has been built with the intention of lasting 1,000 years, although that did not mean Warwick expected everything in it to last for 1,000 years, but that it had been designed so that when something needed replacing - such as the wiring - the work could be carried out easily.

Warwick also invited others on the team to speak about their contributions. Michael Wingate gave more information about the lime mortar used and Brian Morton, an engineer, said in his profession he often found himself doing the architect\'s job for them - but not in this case. "Warwick knew what he was doing and I tweaked it - and that\'s all I did," he said.

Andre Vrona, proprietor of Ketton Archetectural Stone & Masonry, said for him and his masons it was like being a player in the FA cup, being in the top league, "going up to the line and passed the line".