Work starts on new Skye gorge viewing platform
Attraction will showcase Trotternish landscape
Construction work has started on a new viewing platform and car park at Lealt Gorge, Staffin, Skye.
Part of Staffin Community Trust’s Skye ecomuseum project, it follows an unprecedented rise in the number of visitors in recent years which has put several scenic spots under serious pressure.
A viewing platform providing commanding views of two waterfalls, the Trotternish Ridge and across to Wester Ross and a new car park will be built.
It means access to the popular site and existing car park, off the A855 Staffin-Portree road, will be closed to the public for four weeks. Geoff Freedman, an award-winning engineer, has designed the steel and timber platform. Mr Freedman, who is based in Lothian, is the former head of design for buildings and bridges at the Forestry Commission.
MacDonald Contracting Ltd was awarded the contract after a tendering process. The Inverness firm, owned by Scott MacDonald, is a specialist in erecting timber and steel structures and bridges and has worked across Scotland in other sensitive locations, including nature reserves, the Cairngorms National Park and woodlands.
The ecomuseum was first opened in Staffin a decade ago.
It is an outdoor museum with ‘no walls and a roofless sky’ and includes footpaths across Staffin, interpretation and parking.
Staffin Community Trust believes the attraction will showcase Trotternish’s landscape all year round and help local businesses. Scottish Natural Heritage is backing the platform as it will increase access and public appreciation of the Valtos Special Site of Scientific Interest.
Following a separate tendering process, Ian MacDonald of Staffin Groundworks was awarded the contract for a new 20-space car park, which will be supervised by experienced engineer Eric Faulds. The family firm is well known in Skye having worked on housing and other key infrastructure projects.
An economic report estimated the Staffin economy will be boosted by an additional visitor spend of £165,000 in the first year of the ecomuseum.
Trust chairman Sandy Ogilvie said: ‘The construction of the new platform and car park at Lealt Falls places this project and the wider developments of the Skye ecomuseum firmly on the map as both a site and physical experience of national significance.’
Staffin Community Trust thanks the Lealt township and site owner Kilmuir Estate for their support.
The project has been backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Coastal Communities Fund and SSE Sustainable Development.