A NEW ramp is to be built at the north door of St Paul’s Cathedral, to provide a permanent accessible entrance for visitors and staff.

It is expected to be completed by next summer, and will replace a temporary accessible lift at the cathedral’s west end.

More than £1.6 million has been raised for the project so far from donations, and permission for the work has been granted by the City of London and the Cathedral Fabric Commission for England.

The Dean, the Very Revd Dr David Ison, said last week: “The granting of consent and start of construction for this project, after many years of thought and consultation, shows that, with sufficient commitment, even challenging heritage environments such as St Paul’s can be made more accessible.”

The current surveyor of the fabric of St Paul’s Cathedral — a post first held by Christopher Wren — Oliver Caroe, said that the ramp would be the most “significant fabric addition” to the building.

A new exhibition at the cathedral, The Great Restoration of the 1920s, charts the cathedral’s recovery from 1924, when it was served with a Dangerous Structures notice.

Between 1925 and 1930, £250,000 was raised to save the building from collapse. The exhibition, which is displayed in the crypt, runs until May 2020.

Visitors to St Paul’s are now allowed to take photographs inside the building for the first time, except during services.