Former naval base in The Orkneys to be developed – by David Foxwell

Under the plan, Lyness Harbour on the island of Hoy is to be developed as base for marine renewables firms. The Orkney Islands Council is looking for contractors to start work on the first stage of development, which is expected to take nearly six months to complete.

The development is expected to include a heavy crane lift platform, more than 43,000 sq/ft of concrete surfacing, an electrical sub-station and pier lighting, bollards and fenders. The planned development has also received European Regional Development Fund funding support of 40%.

Elsewhere on the Orkney Islands, work has started on refurbishment of six ferry ramps on four isles and mainland Orkney, a project which should extend their working life by 30 years. Ramps at Rousay, Shapinsay, Egilsay and Wyre as well as Kirkwall and Tingwall will all be refurbished over the next 18 months.

The Orkney Islands’ Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Councillor Jim Foubister said, ‘These ramps have all had considerable wear and tear during their operational life with numerous repairs to the concrete surfacing. Historically these repairs were done with minor disruption to the ferry service, and this has restricted the life of repair works undertaken. At a cost of £1.8m this work will fully refurbish the ramps and extend their working life by at least 30 years.’

The Tingwall, Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre ramps were constructed during the late 1980s, with the Kirkwall and Shapinsay ramps being built during the early 1990s. Reconstruction of the ramps will involve replacing the existing fill material with mass concrete to minimise settling and replacing the existing damaged deck with pre-cast concrete ‘granolithic’ deck slabs toughened to reduce erosion of the ramp by vessels. Work at each location will take around 12 weeks. Ramp levels will be retained at current heights.

Temporary ramps will be put in place at Tingwall, Rousay, Egilsay, and Shapinsay. Temporary ramps will be shorter (at the sea end) than the existing ramps, which may lead to periods when ro-ro services will be unable to operate during low tides. However a passenger and light freight service will still be available when the temporary ramps are not able to be used for ro-ro service.

At Wyre, where the existing ramp needs to be widened as well as refurbished, the existing ramp will have a new section laid alongside it first. This will be used by ferries while the old ramp is completely refurbished, finally providing a wider ramp for the island. At Kirkwall, the linkspan was already being used for ferries heading to Shapinsay while work on the ramp was underway.

Peter Bevan, engineering services manager, tells MJ that the project’s construction, being lead by Currie Brothers Ltd, is on time and that the first ramp in Kirkwell is now finished.