Lerwick Tollbooth

Lerwick Tollbooth

This project involved the reconstruction of a 400 year old landmark building on the Lerwick waterfront. The building had been the subject of substantial alterations over the years, but had fallen into a poor general state of repair. The renovation work involved the historic outer shell being retained and impeccably restored to its original configuration. Inside the shell a steel frame was created to support three floors of operational space and a lift shaft. To achieve this, the roof was removed and the interior of the building stripped back to the stone fro the steelwork to be craned in.

The present occupant and client was the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, but in its long history the building has had a variety of uses, including Town Gaol and Post Office.

The project was awarded the Federation of Master Builders Builder of the Year competition for 2005. As the Client, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution received a cheque for £3,000 to support their work.

The judges noted "While the external fabric of the building was restored and retained, the internal fit out is to a very high modern specification. The breadth of skills required by the builder to successfully deliver the project was extremely wide – ranging from structural engineering and joinery to stonemasonry, slating and roughcasting."