Briggs are placing rock armour and precast concrete scour protection at the base of the slipway and around the interlinked dolphins at the Rhum and Muck piers. The workforce of 14 plus representatives from Highland Council and a team of divers are living in a village of cabins specially transported to Rhum because there is no accommodation on the islands.

Access to and from the mainland is occasionally inhibited by bad weather. When works are complete on Rhum, the cabins will be transported to Muck.

Dredging in Rhum will be localised around the pier and the manoeuvring area for the ferry.

It will be carried out by a spudleg barge with a long-reach excavator on board. Dredged material will be transported to an approved dumping ground near Canna.

Localised rock dredging in the Muck approach channel will be carried out by the same equipment but may require drilling and blasting first.

Precast concrete flexible mattresses will be laid on the seabed around the pier dolphins and the slipway to provide scour protection. A further area of rock armour will be laid on the seabed, with mattresses covering the ferry manoeuvring area.

Roadway access to the pier is also to be upgraded and reconstructed for some 200m, connecting to an existing roadway and leading to the houses on Rhum.

Briggs vessels providing construction support include the landing craft Forth Guardsman , the crew vessel Guardwell , and the multicat Forth Fighter .

MJ Information No: 183100