A main contractor has now been chosen for the £10.5m restoration of the Maison Dieu.

Work on the 800-year-old Dover Town Hall, which is Grade I Listed and a Scheduled Monument, begins in August.

The work includes restoring Victorian decor, improving access throughout the building, creating a new visitor entrance and using redundant spaces such as for a holiday let and café.

Coniston Ltd, of Dartford, a specialist in conserving and restoring of heritage and listed buildings, has been appointed by Dover District Council.

It has worked on historic buildings including Canterbury Cathedral, the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, The British Museum, The Tower of London, Sheerness Dockyard Church, Somerset House, and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Coniston, collaborating with specialist conservators and contractors will preserve and restore elements of the Maison Dieu's fabric.

It will recreate internationally significant decorative schemes by the Victorian neo-Gothic architect William Burges construct a new street-level visitor entrance to the building's Connaught Hall.

The project will bring redundant spaces back into commercial use, including restoring the Mayor’s Parlour as a holiday let in conjunction with The Landmark Trust.

There will also a new café in the space once occupied by Victorian gaol cells.

The work is expected to finish in two years and the building will be permanently open to the public for the first time in its history.

DDC says this will play a key role in the regeneration of the town centre.

It is funding the project along with the National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Wolfson Foundation, The Landmark Trust, Dover Town Council, and the Dover Society.

The Maison Dieu (House of God) was founded in the early 1200s by Hubert de Burgh and passed to King Henry III in 1227. That was when the earliest surviving part of the building, the Chapel (later the court room), was consecrated in his presence.

It was built as a place of hospitality for pilgrims going from continental Europe to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket. From the 16th century, the Maison Dieu was used as a victualling yard supplying Royal Navy ships.

In the mid-19th Century, architect Ambrose Poynter extensively restored the building aided by Burges. Later,Burges went on to further remodel it and design an assembly hall (the Connaught Hall) and civic offices.

The Maison Dieu is the only civic commission by Burges and the only intact building in England still containing his decorative scheme, furniture, and fittings.

Cllr Trevor Bartlett, leader of DDC, said: “We look forward to work starting this summer as we reawaken this magnificent building to take its place at the heart of the cultural and community scene in Dover town centre.”

John Rathbone, managing director of Coniston Ltd, said: “We have had the privilege of working on some of the nation’s most precious buildings and are excited to join the Maison Dieu team for the delivery phase of this important project.”