Technicus Consulting are extremely pleased to see the recent civil and structural engineering works at Caister Lifeboat Station are now approaching completion in readiness for arrival of their new lifeboat at the end of this year. The £1.6M Medina-class one-off lifeboat build started in late 2022 and is due to arrive at Caister Lifeboat Station towards the end of 2023 to be put into service. The new, bigger, and faster lifeboat has necessitated several alterations to be made to the existing lifeboat shed and external slipway to accommodate the new vessel when it arrives.
Technicus Consulting was appointed by Caister Volunteer Lifeboat Service (CVLS) back in 2021 to provide civil and structural engineering design and consultancy services for several phases of alteration and extension works on the site.
The first phase of works involved widening the existing slipway used to launch and recover the lifeboat. This large earthworks project involved us designing and specifying new retaining walls, reinforced concrete external yard slabs, and below ground surface water drainage system to withstand the loads generated by the new wider and heavier lifeboat, trailer, and tractor unit. The surface water drainage system was designed and specified to allow easier and safer maintenance by the CVLS team as the beach side environment and regular washing-down of the lifeboat, trailer, and tractor unit previously caused issues with the old surface water drains becoming blocked with silt and sand on regular basis.
The second phase of works involved widening the existing lifeboat shed roller-shutter door opening to suit the wider lifeboat and trailer unit. This involved us undertaking a detailed measured survey of the existing steel framed lifeboat shed structural framing and designing and specifying new structural steel elements to frame-out and support the new larger roller-shutter door unit.
The third and largest phase of works comprised construction of a new side extension and internal cantilevered steel framed balcony structure to form a new café, kitchen, shop, seating area and external viewing and seating terrace. This involved us designing and specifying new superstructure and substructure elements of this build, from the structural steel framing to floor slabs and foundations. It also required structural verification checks to be undertaken on the existing building and foundations to review their adequacy to support the additional loads generated by the proposed alterations and extension.
It has been great seeing the different phases of this project coming to fruition over the last 12 months, and we are excited to see the new lifeboat when it arrives later this year.
More information about the Caister Lifeboat and the excellent emergency services the CVLS volunteers provide can be found on their website HERE
