New RNLI boathouse in Norfolk built 'with climate change in mind'

The finishing touches are being added to the new boathouse at RNLI Wells

A new RNLI station on the north Norfolk coast has been built "with climate change in mind", its manager said.

The station, at Wells-next-the-Sea, replaces the current boathouse on the beach that dates from the 1890s.

It will house a brand new "cutting edge" lifeboat, called the Duke of Edinburgh, which will come into service by the end of the year.

Operations manager Chris Hardy said the facilities at the new building "could take your breath away".

He said the current boathouse was almost destroyed by 6ft (1.8m) waves in the East coast storm surge of 2013, when the crews had to open its doors at either end to "let the tide through".

The new lifeboat station replaces the current boathouse in Wells, which has stood on the site since the 1890s

As a result, the new boathouse has been built on an elevated area of the shoreline, taking rising water levels into account and offering "more accessible and safer experience for visitors".

He said the needs of the 30-strong crew had been "factored into the plans".

"The RNLI and the architects were extremely accommodating to our requirements," Mr Hardy added, "and allowed us to be part of the build process from the start.

"It was what you would have loved to have got under the Christmas tree".

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The need for a new lifeboat station and boathouse was originally raised at a coastal review in 2005, and planning got under way in 2016 - with the first work on site starting in 2020.

The building will house a much larger, state-of-the-art Shannon-class all-weather lifeboat, called Duke of Edinburgh, which has been built in Poole, Dorset, and will arrive in the autumn.

It replaces a Mersey-class lifeboat, nicknamed "Doris", which has been in service since 1990 and is the oldest lifeboat in the RNLI fleet.

"Our love affair with our 32-year-old lifeboat will be hard to replicate," Mr Hardy said.

"We are very fortunate in Wells to have an amazing crew, dedicated to doing what we do best - saving lives at sea," he said.

The current Mersey class lifeboat, nicknamed Doris, will be replaced with a state-of-the-art lifeboat later this year