THIS is how one of the main gateways to York Minster will look, once a new piazza scheme is completed.

The South Piazza restoration programme, outside the South Transept, is part of the wider York Minster Revealed project, which has been backed through a £10.5 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Work on the piazza means access for pedestrians and cyclists around the south entrance and the Minster Gates will be restricted from Monday for about ten weeks as contractors begin constructing a new stone carriageway. The project will see the current steps leading into the Transept being removed.

York Minster Revealed is the largest restoration and conservation project of its kind in the UK, and is designed to transform the Minster as a visitor attraction while also protecting its stonework and stained glass for the future. It is due for completion in early summer 2016, after five years of work.

City of York Council provided £500,000 towards the South Piazza part of the project, through its Reinvigorate York city-centre facelift scheme.

Coun Dave Merrett, the council’s cabinet member for planning issues, said: “Along with the council’s investment in the York Minster Revealed project, which ties in with our Reinvigorate York initiative to redesign Exhibition Square and improve and enhance the quality of the city’s public spaces, we are also supporting and investing in York Art Gallery and the refurbishment of St Leonard’s Place. This will transform this part of the city into a high-quality cultural hub for York.”

York Minster Revealed also includes the creation of multi-media galleries, new displays of stained glass and historic artefacts, and interactive learning tools, as well as improving access to the Undercroft, Treasury and Crypt and conserving and restoring the Great East Window.