Tenby's former Lifeboat Station has a bright new addition to its structure at the moment in the form of a banner which is part of a marketing exercise to find a suitable sub-tenant who may be interested in a long leasehold of the Grade II listed building. Local estate agency FBM are handling the marketing campaign under their Fine and Country sector, on a joint agency with Savills, who are promoting the station's lease nationally. The RNLI holds the structure under a 99-year lease from 2003 with the Crown Estates Commissioners (CEC). The original station, slipway and access walkway at Castle Hill first opened in 1904. However, it became redundant as a working station in January of 2005, following completion of the new larger lifeboat station for its new state-of-the-art Tamar class lifeboat. Listed building consent to demolish the original boathouse, slipway and access walkway was submitted by the RNLI to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority in January 2007. The application, though, was called in by the Welsh Assembly Government at the request of Cadw the following month and consent was refused in October of last year following an inspector's inquiry. Cadw considered that the potential for suitable alternative use of the building had not been adequately investigated. The RNLI are thus seeking practical proposals from individuals and organisations interested in acquiring the lifeboat station and putting it to an appropriate use. "We are seeking ideas for the reuse of the lifeboat station and are not looking to sell the boathouse as we don't own it," explained RNLI media relations manager (west), Danielle Rush. The lifeboat station has an approximate length of 67'6 x 20'4, containing two store rooms, one being the mechanics room, and a first floor open gallery area. "I'm delighted to be working with the RNLI in marketing such a distinctive and iconic building. We are anticipating a variety of proposals from interested parties which will then be put forward to a panel of assessors," said Luke Remington, manager of the Tenby office of FBM. "Fine and Country would like to point out that the former lifeboat station is not for sale, but the objective is to discover individuals or organisations genuinely interested in taking over the building by requesting expressions of interest based on clear instructions as to the interested parties: ideas, costings, future management proposals, etc., in a written, illustrated submission," he added. Any interested parties have until 12 noon, June 11, to make an offer on the leasehold of the station. Anyone wishing to arrange a viewing is asked to contact FBM on 01834 842207.
