Historic
We were asked by our client North Tyneside Council to carry out external cleaning, repairs, replacements and decoration works to Grade II Listed St Mary’s Lighthouse and its surrounding buildings including the lighthouse tower, keeper’s cottages, visitor centre and bird watching hut.
22 weeks
The structures dating back to 1898 and situated on St Mary’s Island, just north of Whitley Bay, received a complete facelift through delivery of this project. Positioned so close to the North Sea means the buildings are exposed to inclement weather all year round and so require regular upkeep to maintain their appearance and preserve the buildings for future generations to enjoy.
We spent several months consulting with the Local Authority, planners, conservation groups and numerous specialists such as the Coast Guard, audiologists and the Marine Management Organisation before works commenced.
The project took 22 weeks to deliver including the erection of scaffolding, extensive preparation, replacements and repairs and the application of Crown Paints Sandtex and Xtreme Xposure coatings to all previously painted substrates, providing a 20-year manufacturer guarantee.
The site is a registered nature reserve housing numerous protected species of seals, birds, crustaceans and fish. Great care had to be taken to keep noise to a minimum and not disturb the wildlife in its natural habitat as mating, migration and nesting seasons overlapped the programme of works.
Separated from the mainland and exposed to the elements, work had to be carefully planned around wind speeds, heavy precipitation and tide times, creating limited and unsociable working hours.
All previous coatings contained lead and so an extra level of health and safety considerations had to be planned into the working methods. Specialist PPE was provided to protect operatives from dangerous exposure including barrier protection, respirators and blood screening to measure exposure levels. All scaffolding was shrouded in non-combustible Envirowrap to ensure no lead-based particles could escape into the atmosphere and endanger the wildlife, whilst reducing noise pollution and protecting the structures and the paint from any inclement weather.
Cut off from the mainland twice a day and frequently during working hours meant that liaison with the Coast Guard was imperative to ensure a robust emergency escape plan was in place at all times and egress from the island was always possible.
Vehicle access was restricted for transporting materials to site due to the weakness of the concrete causeway meaning precise planning of material delivery and manual handling around tide times. Limited storage on the island led to a “Just in Time” delivery process for materials minimising waste and on-site hazards.
Grade II listed status brought its own complexities when trying to renew original features like for like. Bespoke windows of varying sizes and styles were fabricated and supplied with ornate brass fittings to ensure an acute attention to detail was implemented with every installation.
Such is the significance and complexity of the project that it was also reported on the local ITV and BBC evening news.
