FOR OVER 100 years it has survived floods, storms and cyclones and it once hosted Queen Elizabeth the second in 1954. But it was cyclone Marcia which threatened to take the roof off the St Pauls Cathedral on Rockhampton's William St.

The cyclone, which caused at least $750 million worth of damages to Central Queensland, essentially lifted the cathedral's roof and dumped it back down.

The total refurbishment cost for the 137-year-old cathedral is close to $2 million, which was fortunately covered by insurance and after months of planning, construction is about to begin.

Registrar of the diocese David Rees said it had been a long, drawn out process for all involved, but was happy that it was "finally coming together".

"This Cathedral was built in the 1800s, it is heritage listed due to its particular characteristics that make it look extremely rare and of value to the local parishioners," David explained.

"It has suffered a fair amount of damage in the cyclone at with the storm on December 3 last year. The storm at the end of the year exacerbated that problem.

"So it has been a long drawn out process of engaging with engineers to investigate the extent of the damage, to working with architects to design the way to improve and rectify it.

"It has finally all come together and today is the official start of the project which will run through to mid-November."  

Scaffolding for the project goes up on Monday but David ensured it would not affect regular service.

"Scaffolding right around the building, but services will still continue. There will be safe entry and exits to the building," he said.

"We would have liked to stay local it is very specialised work this. The new sheet roofing had to be specially rolled to match the pattern, we can't put down full length sheets - it has to look like it did when it was first built.

"We have got Kent Roxborough from Brisbane who is someone who has done a lot of work up here, Rob Jones from Melbourne the heritage plumber, again he has frequently done work in Rockhampton - St Josephs was a major project which they both worked on.

"I think it is a matter of great celebration to us, after a long process of cooperation we are at the point where it is all ready to go. There have definitely been a few prayers gone into it."