How to wing it

The converted farm outbuildings on the centre of the island

Photograph by Thomas Lane

Builders are a rare species on bluebell-clothed Skomer Island, just off the west coast of Wales. It is a national nature reserve, a site of special scientific interest, a special protection area, and a scheduled ancient monument (to list just a few of its many protection orders). The island's main residents are 6000 pairs of puffins and other groundnesting birds. Indeed, its only human inhabitants are a wildlife warden and a few volunteers, who camp out in semi-derelict farm buildings without mains services. So when the island's leaseholder, the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, decided it needed better facilities for staff and visitors, it was clear this was going to be no ordinary construction job.

On the face of it, the building work seemed straightforward enough. The plan was to convert the derelict farm at the centre of the island into accommodation for staff and visiting researchers, and build a separate visitor management centre for the daytrippers who take the 15-minute boat ride from the Pembrokeshire coast. But minimising damage to the island was only part of the story. "Logistics was the main concern," says Paul Evans, project manager for contractor Dawnus Construction.

One of the island’s residents

Photograph by Thomas Lane

It is easy to see why. Work is ruled out between the end of October and the beginning of March and, because the passenger boat doesn't sail at either end of the working day, workers have to live on the remote island. The weather also makes transportation of materials difficult and unpredictable: "If there are north-westerly winds, they won't sail," says Evans. And to cap it all, as the only mobile connection on the island is in the middle of a field, it is virtually impossible to send or receive faxes, meaning that detailed drawings also have to travel by boat.

The uncertain nature of the job meant that Dawnus was taking a considerable risk. Getting the tender right was crucial - too high and it would lose work, too low it would lose money. This effort paid off as it won the contract, which took the form of a JCT98 with bill of quantities. Despite the competitive bid, the constraints are making this an expensive project. "It'll cost £2m," says Evans. "If it was on the mainland it would have cost half that."

The farmhouse couldn’t be converted as it is part of a protected view

Photograph by Thomas Lane

The company gave a lot of thought to how it would resolve the transport issues before tendering. Helicopters were considered but ruled out on grounds of cost. So materials are moved using a barge, which still costs £10,000 per journey. Because of the costs involved, the barge ships 300 tonnes of materials from Port Pembroke once a month. With a month's worth of materials needed on the island at any one time and the possibility that the boat won't sail because of the weather, advance planning is crucial. "You need to order at least two months ahead of your programme," says Evans.

The groundnesting birds have also had a big impact on how materials are transported. As well as the 6000 pairs of puffins, 145,000 pairs of Manx shearwater live on Skomer and a nearby island, making up half the world's population. If rats get onto the island they could devastate the population, so a barge laden with warehouse-stored materials needs to be meticulously checked before it sets sail to minimise the risk of rats stowing away.

Dawnus thoroughly checks the materials to ensure none are hiding, then shrinkwraps every pallet. Five days before the barge sails, rodent control specialists bait the barge, then the traps are checked again before loading. "Fortunately we have never found a rat," says Evans.

The barge sails once a month

Photograph by Thomas Lane

Unloading materials at the other end presented yet another challenge. The only place to unload was on the beach, but, being a marine nature reserve, the WTSWW wanted it to be disturbed as little as possible. Materials therefore have to be unloaded using the barge's on-board crane, with a five-tonne mini-digger ready to load up a vehicle called a ProGator and its trailer. The ProGator's fat tyres minimise damage to the beach, and crucially it is small enough to get up the narrow track onto the island - which has a sheer drop on one side. "One mistake with the track and you've had it, but there is no other way," says Evans. "But now we've done seven barge loads, so we've got it down to a fine art."

Unfortunately, the downside of the ProGator is that it is normally used to maintain parks and golf courses, looks like an oversized golf buggy and can only carry two tonnes of materials. This means that 150 journeys are needed to transport everything from the barge to the site, which takes three days and requires a dedicated team of eight people.

The transport difficulties also mean that the workers up on the site have to make do without heavy plant such as cranes. Indeed, sheer manpower is the only way to get much of the job done. Workers have devised methods to make this easier, even splitting into two teams to see which was the fastest to mix mix 30 m3 of concrete using domestic-sized cement mixers.

Unloading materials onto the tiny beach is difficult

Photograph by Thomas Lane

According to Gareth Evans, the site manager, working on the island is fine - it is living there that involves compromise. "The difference is you are here 24/7. You have to be a bit diplomatic otherwise you get thrown off a cliff," he laughs. Temporary flatpack accommodation had to be brought over to house the 14 workers on the island, and a kitchen, dining and living area were also built. Dawnus decided one of its bricklayers could switch roles and become a virtually full-time chef. "It would be a nightmare if 14 guys were all doing their own thing - for example, nobody would clean the kitchen - so we decided on a full-time chef," says Paul Evans.

All the food and drink is brought over to the island each week, with an extra two weeks' supply kept in reserve in case the weather turns bad. "You would get a call from the coastguard on the Wednesday saying if you don't get the guys off now they will be stuck there for another week," says Paul Evans. Often, the men have opted to stay to get the job done. Indeed they work long hours, from 7am to 7pm, as there isn't much to do apart from work and sleep. There's a television and a dartboard and some of the men have created a gym, and two extremely small football teams. According to Gareth Evans, the main problem is being away from their families. "Working here is not a problem, it's being away from home," he says. "There's been a couple of problems; one of the guys had to leave and go home."

The workers’ no-frills sleeping quarters

Photograph by Thomas Lane

But most of the workers have seen the job through from when it started in April last year. Initially everyone worked from Monday to Friday and then went home, but now the pressure is on. The team is working a 12-day shift with two days off to get the buildings finished before next winter sets in. Then, with the workers and their temporary accommodation safely on the barge back to the mainland, the island's groundnesting residents can finally get back to a normal life.

The visitor management centre at the cliff edge

Photograph by Thomas Lane