HELENSBURGH
After more than three years of being closed to marine traffic, Helensburgh pier is set to be resurfaced and provided with new street lighting. The move comes after Argyll and Bute Council’s plans for improvement work on the category C listed pier were granted listed building consent on Friday May 6, while the authority was counting votes from its election. No comments were registered by members of the public.
Boats have been unable to dock at the pier since October 2018 due to safety concerns.
A council planning officer said that the plans were sympathetic to the finishes and fixtures being used on the external works of the main leisure centre project which is due to open in August.
The planning officer said: ‘This covers the area adjoining the existing pier to the western edge of the site. It forms a new major pedestrian route southward from the town, across West Clyde Street, to the new building, aligning with Colquhoun Street to provide a strong north/ south axis with a visual townscape link between Colquhoun Square and the new building.
‘The area has been conceived as a broad natural pedestrian extension to the town centre, down to the waterfront.
‘The arrangement provides a combination of access to the slipway from the new upper level, together with an informal seating and gathering area to watch small craft and canoe activities.’
The officer added: ‘Where sections of vertical wall are required, these will be furnished with robust hand railings to match the existing pattern utilised on the adjacent esplanade.
‘The walls will be faced using coursed rubble to match the proposed finish around parts of the ground floor of the building façade, particularly along the west elevation and around the main entrance.
‘The new building and the landscape will therefore be seen to grow naturally out of and into each other, providing a dynamic, integrated and distinctive design composition, responding to the site and its location.’