England's glory: building the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Gallery at Westminster Abbey

I have the universe at my feet. To be precise, it’s 16m below my feet, and to be even more precise it’s a thirteenth century representation of the universe – which is to say it’s beautiful but completely inaccurate. This, however, is one of the greatest views in world architecture. Straight down the nave of Westminster Abbey, the pointed arches of its Gothic roof vault marching away in front of me, and below me, the Cosmati pavement: the ornate, geometrical, highly symbolic flooring in front of the High Altar, made from hand-cut fragments of semiprecious stones, commissioned by Henry III from Italian artisans when the abbey was built and the ground upon which monarchs have been crowned from the medieval period onwards. Very few people have seen this view for centuries. But that is now changing.

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee galleries are located in the Abbey triforium: a structure which helps support the weight of the roof at the top of the nave. For many years, it was used as storage for a variety of items encompassing both treasure and junk and was inaccessible for anyone except Abbey staff (apart from when it was used as a gallery during coronations). But now, it has been transformed into a space to house and display many of the Abbey’s greatest treasures. Accompanied by a new tower on the exterior of the Abbey, wedged into an angle between the 12th-Century Chapter House, one of the oldest parts of the building, and the 16th Century Lady Chapel, built to house the tombs of Henry VII and his queen, the tower contains a staircase and lift to access the gallery. This represents the first major structural addition to Westminster Abbey since the 18^th century, when the two towers that adorn the West Front of the building were added giving it its famous and characteristic façade.