Two New Buildings Bring York Minster's Stone Workers Under One Roof
Two new buildings now stand on either side of York Minster, the Gothic cathedral in northern England. They were designed for the people who repair it. The architects Tonkin Liu created the project, which Dezeen reported on 11 November 2026.
The project is called the Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills. It has two parts. The rectangular Heritage Quad holds workshops and teaching rooms for stonemasons, the craftspeople who cut and carve stone. It also has accommodation for apprentices who are learning the trade.
The triangular Technology Hub is the other half. It houses digital tools used for cutting stone. Its roof is covered in photovoltaic panels, which turn sunlight into electricity, and rows of arched windows rise from it.
Both buildings give working stonemasons a view of the minster itself. The cathedral is Grade I-listed, the highest level of protection for historic buildings in England. Staff can look at the stone they are working on, and at the building it belongs to, from their benches.
The Heritage Quad was not built from scratch. Tonkin Liu kept, reused and extended existing structures near York's medieval city walls. The architects worked with Historic England, the government's heritage body for England, and with local planning authorities. The new parts use glulam, short for glued-laminated timber, which is layers of wood bonded together into large beams. A plywood roof partly covers a central courtyard.
The Technology Hub is built from steel and glulam. Its triangular shape follows the site it sits on, and its arched windows give light to the rooms below.
Mike Tonkin said the two buildings will speed up the conservation of York Minster by four decades within the next century. Conservation means the long, careful work of keeping old stone and glass in good condition, and it is slow by nature. A faster pace would mean more of the building's fabric is cared for in time.
The change is practical as much as visual. The people who repair the minster's stone now have workshops, classrooms and training places beside the cathedral they look after.
