Winter warm up at Bath Abbey.

Singing carols won’t be the only winter warmer at Bath Abbey this festive season.

The first phase of Bath Abbey’s multi-million pound Footprint Project – which involved the East end of the church – was completed in June.

The floor in this area was stabilised, the ledgerstones restored and the underfloor heating system was installed.

Now, regular visitors and worshippers will be delighted to hear that the underfloor heating will be switched on on the 9th or 10th of December.

However, Alix Gilmer – who is Project Director – told Bath Newseum:

While the good news is that the Abbey should be a lot warmer this winter than it was last year, this doesn’t mean that the renewable heating system is up and running just yet!

There is still some work to be done including installing the heat exchangers in the Roman Drain that are essential for harnessing the energy from the hot springs. For the next year or so, the underfloor heating will be limited to just the East end, powered by gas mains and supplemented by heaters on the columns in the East End, so there will be some heating in the Abbey.

The renewable heating system will only be working as fully intended once the entire Abbey floor has been repaired and underfloor heating has been installed in the whole of the Abbey at the end of the Footprint project in 2021.

We’re grateful to everyone for their patience while the Footprint project is taking place and can’t wait until this exciting and innovative project is completed, and the whole of the Abbey is in use again.”