Gordon Paul Sorensen
1959 - 2023
After a short and courageous battle with cancer, Gordon Sorensen passed away on 17 August 2023.
Gordon is well known throughout the heritage sector as the managing director of Cathedral Communications Limited, which he founded in 1993 with Liz Coyle-Camp and Jonathan Taylor. To launch the company Gordon gave up a lucrative career as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse (PWC as it is now), but in conservation and heritage he found a level of satisfaction that had eluded him in the corporate world, and his only regret was handing back the keys to his company car, a sporty red BMW 325i.
With him at the helm, Cathedral's first publication, The Building Conservation Directory, immediately brought information on conservation technology, traditional materials and heritage specialists to 10,000 people free of charge, transforming access to specialist expertise for thousands of ordinary specifiers and owners of historic buildings. Further publications quickly followed, including the special reports Historic Churches, Historic Gardens and Heritage Retrofit as well as this website BuildingConservation.com. Cathedral also went on to provide publishing services for many other heritage sector organisations, including ASCHB, CIfA, HB&P and IHBC.
Gordon brought a unique skill set to the world of conservation and was equally at home on a spreadsheet and proofreading, or negotiating with suppliers. It was his vision and confidence that enabled Cathedral to succeed, and 30 years later, the company he founded is still thriving.
A keen sportsman, Gordon’s passion and energy was perhaps most obvious on the tennis court and in the roller hockey arena. ‘Gordie’ had grown up in Ottawa, Canada playing ‘the great Canadian game’, ice-hockey. At Queens’ University in Ontario he had played for the university team and although he turned down the opportunity to play professionally, he represented Britain in the Roller Hockey World Cup, and continued to play competitively until his recent illness, latterly for Tidworth Titans inline hockey team where he was one of the principal goal scorers despite being the oldest member by at least a decade.
To his friends and family, it seems incomprehensible that one who was so fit and with so much energy should have died at just 64, and his absence will be keenly felt by his colleagues throughout the heritage sector, by his teammates, his family, and everyone who knew him.
Jonathan Taylor
editor@buildingconservation.com
