BISHOP Noel Treanor will next month move back into his north Belfast residence following more than two years of extensive renovation.
The headquarters of the diocese of Down and Connor, where Bishop Treanor lives, has been the focus of major refurbishment since 2012, with the work attracting much interest as well as criticism.
But in an interview with The Irish News, Bishop Treanor said he is "not interested in extravagance" but simply wants to see "quality, durable work for future generations".
Lisbreen House was built in 1879 for John Lanyon and was occupied as a family residence until 1933 when it was bought by the Diocese of Down and Connor for use as a 'Chapel of Ease' until St Therese's Church was completed in 1938.
It then became the residence and offices of the then bishop Daniel Mageean with successive bishops residing there ever since.
The bishop's quarters consists of "a bedroom, a sitting-room, a bathroom, study" and "a number of rooms of guests".
"The bishop [Mageean] moved in and it became the house in which the bishop did two things, he lived, I live," said Bishop Treanor.
"He had a few rooms in it, as I have, and the rest of it was services, so all these things were reception rooms, meeting rooms and offices and so on and there were people working at it."
He said no major restoration work has been undertaken by the diocese prior to this but various structures - to primarily house more office space - have been added or walls knocked down.
"Before I came here, surveys had been done of this property and it had been seen that it was badly in need of restoration, refurbishment," he said.
"There was a lot of asbestos in it, there were structural defects that had not been set right, there was rot here and there, there were walls in a terribly bad state because of infiltration."
Bishop Treanor said after moving into Lisbreen in 2008 and living there for three years in which "I did nothing with it at all because I wanted to find out what should we do, should we do anything", he decided to look at the options for a revamp.
"So, of course, if your going to start a project like that, the first things you do was go back to the tabula rasa [blank slate]. You say, right should we stay here at all, should we set out to custom-build something of 21st century standards, would it make more financial sense?
"So we discovered very quickly of course in 2008/2009 and therefore 2011, the market - would you get value for money?
"The second thing we discovered is, this is an important thing, in this house, which is a Victorian house, downstairs there is a significant depth difference between the front area, reception area and down into the kitchen. The rooms are on different levels.
"Upstairs, the same thing. The rooms are on different levels, up and down. In that sense it's a bit of a labyrinth.
"Now the thing is, one thought of a few things, could you sell it for, I don't know what, you could think of all sorts of things - a hotel, a bed and breakfast or an office? We discovered very quickly, health and safety, it requires lifts, it requires levelling.
"The nature of the house architecturally is you can't alter these levels because the ceilings are relative to this and they're quite low so there's a whole host of technical things that made that option not sensible.
"Then I had the wild idea that maybe we could do a very wise thing. Since we have people working in different places, we could concentrate everybody and turn this place into offices. Health and safety again - no you can't.
"So, to make a long story short, after a lot of deliberation it became clear that, first of all, the only sensible thing to do was to stay on this site."
Bishop Treanor said, while it may have been a more "comfortable" option to "leave it to the next man... in financial terms and in terms of the property itself I believe it would have been the irresponsible thing to do".
So he gave the go-ahead to the massive refurbishment.
"It's my job for whatever number of years I am spared, if I'm spared here for another 12 or 13 years, to maintain in two things - the quest for faith and at the same time to keep the fabric of the diocese, you could call it the parishes, up to scratch."
He said among the work carried out has been the removal of asbestos, work to the roof, repointing of bricks and fixing the electricity as well as the general overhaul of offices.
The bishop said "the work would not have been possible without the generous bequests from two donors" as well as a grant from the Department of Environment of £303,550.
A DOE spokeswoman said: "Lisbreen is a listed building. An offer of grant-aid under DOE's Listed Buildings Grant Scheme, to the sum of £303,550, was made on 7 January 2013.
"The grant-aid is in respect of eligible works of repair and maintenance of the building, including re-roofing, rebuild of chimneys, repointing of brickwork, extensive repair/replastering of internal walls including cornices and ceilings."
The spokeswoman added that payments of £249,710 had already been paid out "based on architects certificates/receipted fee accounts".
DOE grants are available for up to £500,000 or up to half of the maximum total bill cost.
Despite this, Bishop Treanor was unable to reveal a total refurbishment cost.
"You will understand this is a very difficult question to answer because, as I explained to you, there are different sections in this so I don't think I can give you a figure on this because I haven't got it," he said.
"It's done in different parts - there's the house, there's the office and that - but all I can tell you it has been done as you can see here, with the support of donations, with the support of a grant."
He said the DOE grant "stipulated all kinds of provisions which had to be met" including the gates to the property, which have provoked much criticism with parishioners commenting that they appeared to be luxurious electronic gates.
"If you start outside at the front gate, they were absolutely insistent... it's a particular kind of gate," he said.
"The other set of gate was always there, it's probably been updated. The front gate was the wooden gate of its time and the heritage insisted that that gate be removed and replaced because this is part of our heritage.
"This gate, that seems to have provoked much interest, is closed at the minute because I haven't got in there yet but it's not the case that I'm going to keep it permanently closed. It's a feature.
"The second gate has always been there. They may have updated the gate. I think, as far as I know, they have maybe put pillars on there.
"This is not a fortress".
Despite acknowledging times of austerity, Bishop Treanor said he views the renovation "as a job that is done and done for several generations and in that sense it is done as a contribution to the diocese".
"I can understand that kind of concern... I could have left that place and it could have been the easiest thing for me to do," he said.
"I wouldn't be here in conversation like this, it would have been the easiest thing to do, let it go to rack and ruin - would that be responsible?
"What would happen? The next generation of this diocese would have to do a far bigger job, costing a hell of a lot more."