In February 1934 work was begun on extending the abbey church, with eighty monks working for four years on a project which saw the building lengthened from 90 feet to 220 feet. The architect was F. J. Bradford of Leicester, who mirrored the western nave by Pugin, by continuing the church east by five bays, to make a nave for the laity and a monastic choir in the original nave. The site of the extension was a sloping platform of solid rock, which was blasted away on one side and filled in on the other with mass concrete to provide a level foundation for the building.