On December 9, the administration offices moved to the building at the head of the slipway (the former Bob Spalding building) to allow redevelopment – significant enlargement and improvement – of the original offices.

Demolition work began immediately, and the new building is due for completion in late summer 2010. In the meantime, managing director Jonathan Dyke is keen to stress that it is business as usual. All telephone numbers, email addresses etc remain unchanged, and all the functions of the harbour are continuing as normal – just from different locations.

Redeveloping the offices was a daunting prospect, he said, because so many of the key systems – power, phone, Internet, security – were centred on that building.

“A lot of that has had to be moved to other areas of the site. It is a nine-month project, which is why we wanted to start now.”

Once the new building is complete, the chandlery will be largely unaffected, occupying the same space as currently. But there will be a new and bigger stores, serving the boatyard and the chandlery,  and more and better organised office space.

“It will allow us to operate a lot more efficiently, and integrate our systems much more effectively,” said Jonathan.

The old building “had served us very well,” he added. “It was built in the early 1970s. We had extended it three times in the last 30 years, and made various alterations.”

But unfortunately, for engineering and architectural reasons, it was not possible to extend or alter it any further.

“It sits on a raft. It doesn’t meet present building regulations,” he explained. The new building will be based on piles and then a ring beam.

“It has taken two and a half years from time we started to play around with it to get the design, building regulations and implementation finalised,” said Jonathan.

“In appearance, the new building will be much like the Harbour Room, following the theme we started with the Harbour Room and the new Spalding building.”

Already Jonathan is looking forward to getting into the new building, but he says the temporary office move has been  “Very cleansing,” with some enforced  and overdue “decluttering.”

He paid tribute to the staff who made the move work incredibly well.  “Everybody was fantastic. They really got stuck into it. They are all doing a great job.”

So currently Jonathan’s office is at the front of the building, at the east end (nearest to the EAST offices.) Chris Nunn and Bob Gibbon are sharing an office at the opposite end, and Josh Major’s office is in the middle.

“We are all every bit as accessible as we always were,” said Jonathan. The temporary upheaval and disruption of the move will be more than justified by the benefits of the new building when it is completed, he added.

“Most importantly it will allow us to run the harbour more efficiently. In some respects managing the marina has been difficult because of the limitations of that building. Hopefully the new building will result in a better service to all.”