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Sublime. That’s Gorton Monastery, famous for its altar, statues and stained glass, a tour-de-force in gothic revivalism and, according to many, among the finest churches in England. The fact that it has lain derelict for more than 15 years and is only now being returned to use is, frankly, ridiculous.

Plundered of its treasures, its windows smashed and interiors gutted, Edward Pugin’s 19th century masterpiece was in a sorry state when main contractor William Anelay – tasked with converting it to a community centre – took possession of the east Manchester site in July 2005.

When first announced it was the largest restoration project in the city with brickwork, masonry, ornate plaster works, new doors, windows and floors, leaded lights and stained glass works plus a new slate roof all part of the £4.5m contract.

But it has been the windows that have provided the biggest challenge to the restoration team. The project manager talks of the local kids taking potshots at the monastery’s glazing with air rifles, and bricks through every window in the neighbouring friary. Coupled dormers with multifoils, grouped quatrefoils, segmental-headed sash windows – none escaped damage.

Repairing the damage is one thing, restoring the windows to their original state is another and it required a certain amount of detective work, explains Tim Donlon, Anelay’s project manager.

‘For the huge stained glass sequence in the chancel we only had a photograph from the 1970s – taken from about three miles away – to work with when replacing missing panels,’ says Donlon. At least it was in colour. Ben Aston, project architect with Austin Smith Lord, wasn’t so lucky when considering the friary. ‘We had to deduce the glazing types from faded black and white photos and the shards of glass lying around,’ he says.

Work on both the monastery and the friary, which also includes a new cedar-clad stair tower with a glass curtain wall, is nearing completion and a summer opening is scheduled. So the local community – whose ridiculous antics are comically depicted in Channel 4’s Shameless – will be able to return to the imposing edifice, although this time it will be for conferences, concerts, weddings and other functions rather than to attend to the business of religion. Anelay itself will be relocating to new offices there, another feature of the monastery’s redevelopment.

The friary and monastery were managed concurrently. While the friary floors were being removed Anelay’s team worked around the monastery tackling the north and east first, then the south and west, handling external works such as the lead gutters, rainwater pipes and roof repairs. Each time they worked their way down as well, with subcontractor Cheshire Stained Glass attending at clerestory level to the soaring two-light windows with multifoils in the heads, and then to the leaded light lancet windows in the aisle.

‘We were able to repair the east clerestory windows, but on the west side they were too badly bowed so had to be replaced completely,’ says Donlon. Where possible, the lead cames – which form the metal ‘matrix’ that fixes the glass in place – were cut and folded back to allow new glass to be slotted into position.

We only had a photograph from the 1970s taken three miles away

Tim Donlon, William Anelay

‘It’s manageable in situ, but you’ve got to make a decision as to whether its worth repairing or replacing entirely,’ says Donlon.

He explains that striking a balance means taking into account how badly bowed the window is, how many bits of glass it is composed of and how poorly it is fixed. ‘It’s just too labour intensive to repair a number of cames in one window,’ he says.

It’s demanding, intricate work. Some of the leaded lights feature a ferramenta, a horizontal metal bar that runs across the internal face of the panelled windows and into rebates in the stonework at either side. The cames are tied to these ferramenta giving extra support to the glass. Over time, many had come loose, so had to be replaced, or if still in place, retied.

On the clerestory windows an original Pugin detail required Anelay do some bespoke design work. Pugin had left a gap at the bottom of the window above the sill for ventilation purposes but over time, the part of the sill which stabilised the window had eroded. A hundred years of erosion had taken its toll and reduced the sill to dust. ‘We fitted a timber block in place and fixed a lead tray to that to deal with drips of condensation,’ says Donlon.

The stained glass in the chancel, behind the famous altar, provided a different challenge: working out the scenes and colours from the nine missing panels from a single photograph. The work had to be signed off and approved by English Heritage and it looks seamless. Donlon shrugs it off modestly: ‘It’s typical in this line of work.’

Anelay’s direct labour force provided a range of skills on site and different skills were deployed depending on the window type. On the monastery, subcontracted stained glass specialists teamed up with Anelay’s masons and brickies while on the friary, joiners fitted the sash windows. But the new build element required a different approach. Designed by Austin Smith Lord to contrast with the gothic extravagance of the monastery project architect Aston comments: ‘We’ve taken a distinctly modern approach – we wanted to celebrate the difference in form, in the junctions and the different materials.’

Its elevations are cedar clad with two tinted thin-framed windows flush with the cedar boarding. Another elevation is full height curtain wall glazing, with both elements handled by Inter City Glazing.

As completion nears, the remains of a wall which formed part of a courtyard in a long since demolished section of the friary is being consolidated. ‘We’re securing the courtyard walls, putting grills into windows should a second phase of development be forthcoming,’ says Donlon.

Heading away from site the contrast between old and new really is quite striking: the monastery like a multi-coloured wedding cake carved from stone, the new building not unlike a cool Nordic sauna. A striking contrast certainly, but strangely appropriate too for an area used to the ridiculous and sublime.