The first stage of improvement works at Distington Hall Crematorium will get underway from Friday 29 March and are expected to take around two weeks to complete.
The works, undertaken by Roland Hill Ltd on Cumberland Council’s behalf, will include:
- Complete refurbishment of the foyer, chapel and cloisters.
- New family room.
- Update of the Wesley music system.
- Refurbishment of the toilets.
To allow the work to be carried out quickly and efficiently there will be a full closure of the building and the site will also be unable to accommodate the strewing of ashes in the crematorium grounds.
All services will remain operational in the site’s cemeteries and the Chapel of Remembrance will also remain open.
The crematorium refurbishment is scheduled to take place between 29 March and 14 April, with the last service at 12 noon on Thursday 28 March and reopening at 12 noon on Monday 15 April.
Carlisle Crematorium, also managed by Cumberland Council, which is fully open and can be used as an alternative during the temporary closure of the Distington site.
Councillor Anne Quilter, Cumberland Council’s Executive Member responsible for Crematoria and Cemeteries, said:
“While we have been working towards a go live date for the project, some work has already been carried out. This has included re-wiring in the crematory areas and lighting work in the cloisters, which will limit the time that the crematorium will be out of use.”