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Construction of the 'Fishing Shed' (Wells Shellfish Handling Facility) on the East Quay was almost complete by the date of the official opening on December 11th. Over thirty people, including local fishermen, councillors and members of the community heard speeches from project funders before the shed was formally opened by Ivan Large, Chairman of the Wells and District Inshore Fisherman's Association (WDFA).

Once external groundworks are completed over the midwinter period, the facility will be operational and the area should be significantly improved for all residents and users of the Harbour. Wells Harbour Commissioners oversaw this project on behalf of WDFA, with considerable help from NNDC. WDFA will be the users when it is complete.

The Commissioners would like to thank all residents of Wells for their tolerance during the construction phase which has unavoidably involved some inconvenience along the quay, and to thank the main contractors, Smiths of Honingham for their efforts.

A number of factors led to the project incurring delays of some weeks. Although small, the building is quite complicated with chillers, washdown facilities, flood-proofing and other features which make for a complex build on a small site. For example, owing to the proximity of the building to the sea, a special salt-resistant grade of damp proofing has to be used that is not normally stocked by suppliers and so this was a special order. The material was not delivered when it should have been and that caused a delay. In addition, to maintain the catch (crabs, lobsters) in good condition, a lot of seawater has to be pumped through the building and this requires an internal floor drainage system and discharge back into the harbour. This in turn requires the use of non standard floor gullies that have to be purpose made to order. Unfortunately not all of the gullies required were delivered at the same time and this also caused a delay.

Very aware of the visual importance of the Quay, the Commissioners have striven to ensure that the building is constructed using the highest quality materials affordable, and that these are appropriate to the setting. At the start however, we were uncertain of what lay beneath the concrete hard standing, in terms of load-bearing capacity and soil contamination, and so had to budget for a 'worst case' scenario in terms of environmental works and engineering. This meant compromising on the quality of the roofing materials, and so artificial slates and a plastic sheet membrane for the flat roof were specified. Fortunately the 'worse case scenario' did not materialise and once the piling and other cost risk factors had been completed, the budget was reviewed, and we were able to raise the specification of the roof materials - now natural weathered Delabole Slates from Cornwall, with sheet metal on the flat parts. However that also took a couple of weeks. (When completed, residents and visitors will also see some shiny metal finishing to parts of the roof but this is a special material which will rapidly 'dull' to look like lead within about a year.)

Finally, in late November it transpired that several sub contractors had run into additional problems which were increasing costs. In order to avoid going over budget, the last stages had to be reassessed to make some savings, and this process took several weeks before final contracts could be placed.

We've tried to minimise any nuisance to residents and other users of the Harbour - for example we changed from pile-driving to auguring for the piles, which meant more contaminated spoil had to be disposed of at additional cost but avoided the chance of vibration that might affect neighbouring buildings. We're grateful to everyone who has supported the project and hope that when it is operational it will prove a successful enhancement of the quay and the expanding local fishing industry.

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