RNLI Lizard Lifeboat Station
Sea Rescue Charity
Ports and terminals
With more than 230 lifeboat stations, crewed mainly by local volunteers, the RNLI is at the heart of communities all around the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Renowned as the charity that saves lives at sea, during 2010, RNLI lifeboats launched 8,713 times, and rescued 8,313 people. Of these, 309 people were judged to be in danger of losing their lives.
Now, one of the RNLI’s most remote lifeboat stations has undergone a £7.4 million rebuild. Located at the foot of a 45-metre cliff, The Lizard Lifeboat Station, in Kilcobben Cove, Cornwall, is situated less than a mile from England’s most southerly point and surrounded by treacherous waters.
The Lizard Lifeboats provide a vital rescue facility to the hundreds of ships, fishing and leisure boats that move along the English channel, past Lizard Point each day. Awarded 10 RNLI medals for gallantry, the Lizard Lifeboats’ crews have saved more than 1370 lives during the RNLI’s 150 year operational history.
Completed at the beginning of 2012, the new Lizard Lifeboat station is double the size of the existing station, built in 1961. It includes housing for a £2.7 million Tamar Class all-weather lifeboat and a 70-metre slipway to launch the lifeboat into the sea, as well as state-of-the-art crew training facilities, a mechanics’ workshop, secure storage areas and improved public access. The station is accessed by its lifeboat crew via 200 steep steps.
Commissioned by the RNLI, to manage the project, Royal Haskoning carried out planning and geotechnical works, technical assessment and detailed design, and supervised construction work, undertaken by contractor BAM Nuttall.
Read the full RNLI Lizard Lifeboat Station case study