To mark the ‘topping out’ of the new Discovery Centre, invited guests made a hard hat tour of the building last Tuesday, November 12. On hand to welcome them were Tor Lawrence, chief executive of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, Cliff Dean, chairman of the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and Alan Leigh, project manager of Baxall Construction Ltd., the building contractors.
The building shell is virtually complete and from the interior there are magnificent panoramic views, on the west-facing side across the nature reserve and to the east over the River Rother and to Camber. In the words of Cliff Dean: “The impact on first coming into the building is simply overwhelming. We have for years been imagining this in our minds intellectually, on paper, in architect’s designs and cad-cam visualisations, but this is now a reality and very exciting for the Friends of Rye Harbour.“
Alan Leigh was clearly proud of his firm’s teamwork in the construction process. Starting with the demolition of Lime Kiln Cottage, ground-works commenced on April 11 with the sinking of 78 concrete piles 8-12 metres deep until meeting bedrock. No less than 360 tons of concrete were required for the floor slab and 56 tonnes of steel have been used. The roof is covered with a single-ply welded membrane, guaranteed for 20 years and designed to be impervious to the attentions of seagulls, with their sharp claws. The glazed windows were manoeuvred and installed into place by mobile crane with suction pads capable of holding and transporting the huge panels, each weighing ¾ tonne.
Stressing green credentials, the chestnut wall cladding is locally sourced from woods within 15 miles from the north of Hastings. Using recently developed technology, relatively short lengths of timber could be used, these being glue-laminated together with multiple finger-joints and thereby creating planks of great length. The underfloor heating is provided mainly by an air source heat pump. So much has been achieved in the seven months of construction work, and fitting out will take another five months with completion envisaged for April 2020 if all goes to plan.
Following the tour and the surrender of helmets and hi-viz jackets, the party adjourned for refreshments to the Rye Harbour Sailing Clubhouse. There, Tor Lawrence thanked everyone who had contributed in many various ways to the project. “But,” she added in conclusion, “help is still needed to meet our target.” She drew attention to the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve quilt which was hanging on the clubhouse wall. This will form the major prize in the fund-raising raffle to be drawn on March 15, 2020.
Image Credits: Kenneth Bird .