Lifeboats are often in the news, but their shore facilities receive much less of the limelight. In the first of series of articles on this hidden but significant aspect of the RNLI Shoreworks Manager Howard Richings takes a look at the recent and continuing programme of modernising and maintaining the Institution's 220 lifeboat houses.

Of all the ways in which lifeboats are launched there can be no doubt that the one which most evokes the spirit of a lifeboat crew setting out into the perils of an angry sea is the gathering of speed and spectacular launch of a slipway lifeboat. It is, therefore, appropriate that as the magical year 2000 approaches it will be the new class of slipway-launched all-weather lifeboat that provides one of the main focuses of attention for those in the RNLI who are involved in providing boathouses and supporting facilities for the volunteer crews.

All over the country there are millennium projects - designers are poring over hot computer screens developing ideas that will mark the new millennium and set the scene for the next 1,000 years. But while all this planning and dreaming is going on the RNLI has already been getting on with the task of renovating, modernising and rebuilding its boathouses.

The 1990s will be notable not only for the major achievements in completing the introduction of fast all-weather lifeboats and a major expansion of the inshore lifeboat fleet, but also for one of the most intensive programmes of building and civil engineering works in the Institution's history.

In the middle of the last century, in a period of 30 years, the Institution's then honorary architect, Charles Henry Cooke, designed and built upwards of 200 lifeboat houses, many of which still remain in various guises.

W. T. Douglass, a civil engineer with experience in building lighthouses, then carried forward the construction of boathouses, and it was his successors who saw other periods of significant developments - including the building and adaptation of boathouses to take motorised lifeboats.

From 1940 to the late 1980s the Institution benefited from the sound, functional and high quality work of these earlier architects and engineers. During this time, when funding could be very restricted, works were limited to upkeep and maintenance only and new lifeboat classes were accommodated in existing boathouses.

Indeed, one of the principal design criteria for the Tyne was that she would fit existing slipway boathouses - a requirement that resulted in the Institution obtaining working lives of over 75 years from many of these structures, which is no mean achievement in some the most exposed coastal locations in the country.

This situation could not last, of course. Even the best designed and built boathouses finally succumb to the unrelenting attack of the sea and the corrosive effects of a maritime climate. Also, facilities which were considered adequate 30 or 40 years before did not match the reasonable expectation of crews - improving standards of living led them to consider boathouses without toilets or decent changing rooms to be unacceptable.

Add to this the accelerated improvements in lifeboat design, the rapid growth in the need for fast response inshore lifeboats and the establishment of over 20 new stations and the driving force behind the current shore facility building programme becomes apparent.

In the 1980s the RNLI's forward planning clearly identified a need for a major building, adaptation and renovation programme. The scale of the work required and the financial implications led to the appointment in 1989 of a professional civil engineer as Shoreworks Manager to oversee and manage the programme.

Detailed design and construction supervision services are still obtained from outside consulting engineers and architects - with Mr Douglass' successors, Posford Duvivier, still providing core civil engineering design services.

Transformation So, with some 10 years to go to the millennial milestone, and without any thought of this approaching epochal annus mirabilis, the stage was set for a range of projects, many of which have already transformed the facilities at lifeboat stations throughout Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

The first priority was to provide facilities to house the new Mersey carriage-launched lifeboats, and the first new boathouse for this class was completed at Skegness in 1990. A Mersey on her carriage and coupled to a Talus tractor requires a length of 19m (63ft), and at Skegness, as at a number of other carriage stations, this was a principal factor in requiring a new building. The existing location, in a sea front terrace, was too restricted by adjoining properties to allow adaptation.

The first boat in the ambitious build programme of 31 station Merseys went to Hastings in 1988 - just squeezed into the existing boathouse by lowering the floor - and the last at Aldeburgh in 1993.

This programme was a challenge for the shoreworks office at Poole and for the RNLI's designers and contractors. It had been more than 20 years since the last new all-weather lifeboat house had been built, the slipway station at Padstow, although this had been a major civil engineering achievement.

Although there had been a continuous programme of building maintenance the project team was now faced with a new set of problems.

It had the task of not only developing modern specifications for a new generation of boathouses, but also of coming to terms with the fact that many of the sites now lay within conservation areas, sites of special scientific interest or other specially designated areas.

A number of the boathouses were listed buildings which, although a tribute to our forebears and a matter of pride for the Institution, was an added complication requiring special design approaches and often lengthy discussions with the controlling statutory authorities.

As anyone who has anything to do with building works in recent years will know, defining the line between reasonable planning concerns and the NIMBY syndrome is sometimes a difficult task.

Lifeboat houses are often prominent features and a focus of interest. They must, for obvious reasons, be located adjacent to suitable launching sites and, wherever practical, be as close as possible to the work and homes of the crew members.

Many of the existing boathouses are already part of picturesque beach or harbour settings and any change in these areas, particularly if it results in larger structures, is potentially controversial.

In many cases the character of the surroundings has altered during the lifetime of existing boathouses, often from working harbour or beach frontage to a more leisure and residential nature.

The perceptions, aspirations and values of residents and visitors have also altered, and together these factors have combined to produce a more restrictive and critical planning environment.

However, the operation and housing of a lifeboat is still recognised in most places as an essential and legitimate seafront activity, and the RNLI has encountered generally helpful and favourable responses during the current building programme.

There has been some criticism and this occasionally reached the national press. While mostly exaggerated, and lacking at times in factual accuracy, this has served to emphasise the RNLI's responsibility to ensure that its buildings are appropriate - not only to the needs of the crew and lifeboats but also to their surroundings.

Modern lifeboats represent state of the art standards in terms of design and performance, while the old boats that they replace will be long remembered and examples will be preserved in heritage centres and museums.

An exact analogy may not be possible with boathouses, but the general principle that we should use the most appropriate modern materials and building techniques - just as Cooke and Douglass did in their day - must be right if we are to leave a legacy of our time for the coming generations.

So, enough of the philosophising. In its approach to the year 2000 the Institution has been pursuing a policy of active upgrading and modernisation. Is it appropriate? Has it been successful? Questions which are best addressed by looking at the results.

The Circumnavigation Let us take a tour of the coastline. No doubt in the next millennium we shall be able to take advantage of virtual reality technology, but this time round we must make do with the printed word and a selection of photographs.

In the best traditions of those who have made literary circumnavigations of these islands - Paul Theroux and Bill Bryson to name but two - there may well be omissions, but significant works have been undertaken at well over half of the 220 lifeboat stations since 1990. The journey will thus be both selective and extended over several issues of The Lifeboat The first leg will be Berwick-upon-Tweed to the Humber, an area with one the highest concentrations of lifeboat stations in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

Berwick has recently seen the opening of a new boathouse for its inshore lifeboat, housing the davit launched D class inflatable and modern crew facilities. In 1993 the main slipway boathouse was upgraded to take a Mersey - one of only three of the class to be slipway launched.

Nearby North Sunderland, with a conventional carriage-launched Mersey, was the site of one the first of the new generation of all-weather lifeboat boathouses to be built. Completed in 1991 the design is simple and functional but with some masonry cladding to complement the Seahouses coastline.

Moving South we pass by one of the oldest operational boathouses at Newbiggin, pausing only to note that a scheme to adapt and modernise the station for an Atlantic 75 is awaiting final consents before being put in hand.

At Cullercoats one must take time to contemplate the well preserved 1896 boathouse, with its bell tower and ornate gable end barge boards inscribed with the words 'So when they cry unto the Lord in their trouble he delivereth them of their distress and bringeth them into the haven where they would be' - certainly a building that Cooke would have recognised.

The modest improvements completed in 1993 belie the care and effort that was needed to avoid damage to this colourful building in its picturesque bay.

Tynemouth has, most appropriately, a Tyne, one of the few of this 'slipway' class to be kept afloat. She is soon to be replaced by a Trent on a new, permanent berth at the renovated and modified East Jetty.

This station had long awaited proper facilities for both lifeboat and crew, and an opportunity arose with the new North Shields fish quay development.

The biggest shoreworks project of 1996, with a total value of £640,000, this involved repiling and decking the derelict East Jetty to form a mooring and boarding berth and a site for a modern building to house the station's davit launched D class and facilities for both crews.

At picturesque Staithes the very restricted nature of the site of this 1876 boathouse - a listed building - has limited the improvements that could be made, and the near vertical-cliffs behind regularly add to the maintenance problems by raining rocks onto the roof! In 1993 the unique curving slipway was taken over by the RNLI and completely rebuilt in order to maintain the service.

Scarborough's traditional masonry-built slipway lifeboat station was adapted in 1991 to take a carriage launched Mersey - the slipway being used to give access to the beach for the tractor and carriage. This station also brings us to the first example of a series of major concrete repair contracts undertaken in the 1990s to give a new lease of life to existing reinforced concrete slipways and boathouse sub-structures.

Today's observer at Scarborough would be forgiven for not recognising the extent of the slipway, as it appears no more than a low ramp onto the resort's sandy beach. Beach levels are now several metres higher than when the station was built, and hidden in the sand is an extensive reinforced concrete structure which must be maintained. Exploratory excavations showed the buried structure to be in surprisingly good condition compared with similarly aged exposed slipways elsewhere, and the repairs were largely restricted to the deck and upper part of the supporting piles.

A major challenge was posed at Filey where space is very restricted on the promenade and the Mersey and Talus tractor had to be accommodated on the existing terrace site, sandwiched between existing buildings and backed by a steep and potentially unstable embankment.

It was with some regret that the arched doors of the old boathouse could not be retained but the new boathouse, opened in 1991, fits well into its surroundings. As with so many civil engineering structures the piled retaining wall supporting the bank behind the boathouse, which allowed the site to be extended, is completely hidden. Unfortunately costs are not so invisible and the difficult site conditions were reflected in the £300,000 cost, bringing the RNLI's total investment to about £1.2m in boathouse, lifeboat, tractor and carriage.

At Flamborough a decision to place an Atlantic inshore lifeboat at a new South Landing site meant that an old, derelict lifeboat house there was demolished and replaced in 1993 by a new and larger building, constructed in a similar solid style appropriate to the rugged, exposed site. Walkers on the coastal path cross in front of the boathouse.

At Bridlington the new Mersey was squeezed into the existing boathouse with the aid of some minor adaptation works. The D class inshore lifeboat, on the other hand, was provided with a new boathouse and crew facilities in 1993. The two facilities are a considerable distance apart as there is no space for the inflatable at the main boathouse. This is one of a number of stations where the Institution has to maintain more than one set of shore facilities.

South from Bridlington the coastline sweeps down the Holderness peninsular passing Withernsea, where the current coast protection works have led to plans for a new boathouse for the inshore lifeboat and modern facilities for the crew. Work is expected to start this Summer once the legal formalities have been sorted out.

The Humber lifeboat station is unique in a number of ways. A key station serving one of the busiest sea routes in Europe it ensures that any slight chance of life becoming dull for the shoreworks staff is but a dream. Books could be written on the natural forces at work on the famous spit that terminates at Spurn Head with its RNLI village and only full-time lifeboat crew, and it is with this unusual station that our next stage of the journey will begin.

• In the next instalment Howard Richings will look at the unique problems which beset the Humber station and then head south, taking a more than cursory look at Cromer, where the first and probably the most difficult and costly of the new slipway stations should by then be under construction. The itinerary will certainly include the 'Hanging Boathouse ofAldeburgh' so beloved of the Sunday press! Lifeboat Stations referred to in the text i Berwick .North Sunderland Newbiggin iCullercoats Tynemouth _ Staithes L Scarborough k Filey I Flamborough Bridlington IWithernsea iHumber.