Dropping the ceiling height

[bigalert]

Hello am looking for some advice, i live in a house with very high ceilings and am looking to drop the height down by approx 9 inches.

Problem is cable to lights not long enough to reach new position.

Any ideas please running new cable not really poss due to having to lift upstairs boards and had carpets fitted and floors boarded etc.

Thanks

 

[BS3036]

Extend the cables using soldered connections and adequate heat shrink sleeving, as you aren't allowed inaccessible connection blocks.

This rather assumes that the existing wiring is not too old, and that it has a cpc.

 

[Dippy]

Maybe I am missing something here. If you are putting up new ceilings then doesn't that mean that the old ones will be hidden in which case you can either pull them down first or else just cut them up to put in new cables?