Nearing completion...

Monday 9 May 2022

At long last, the building's exterior is beginning to look complete as larch cladding is added above the block work, covering the insulation layers. This was started on the north side by the crew room and changing area windows and progressed down the eastern side overlooking the beach and old lifeboat house.

The interior is transformed too with proper floors being put down, electrical work and plumbing in place and painting and decorating underway. There's still lots to do however and in particular the area to the south of the building and exterior steps and ramp to the entrance doors from the beach bank still need to be finished off and completed.

Overall, the project is still slightly behind its original schedule and we are now expecting it to be completed towards the end of June. The intention remains to open the public areas of the building as soon as possible and then to begin the process of moving from the old lifeboat house to the new. It is hoped that the inshore lifeboat will be able to move into and operate from the new building over the summer while the Mersey-class all-weather lifeboat will, for now, continue to operate from the current boathouse.

Our new Shannon class lifeboat should arrive in Wells in the Autumn, perhaps late September, and after some time for crew training will take over from the Mersey.