Buildings & Property Projects

CMAL has an in house Chartered Surveyor who is responsible for managing and maintaining the Building and Property assets around the CMAL network. Projects range from general repair/maintenance to major refurbishment and identification of alternative property opportunities, all with a view to upgrading and improving existing facilities. Examples of recently completed and ongoing projects are show below:

Portavadie Refurbishment

CMAL has completed the refurbishment and extension of the existing building at Portavadie.

The work included internal alterations to the building layout to form new toilets, including accessible facilities with a baby changing station, as well as a larger, brighter waiting room. The waiting room itself is now easier to access with a resin path, handrails and push pad door entry.

The building specification is in line with our recent refurbishments of the waiting room facilities at Lochranza and Fishnish. The building will be clad in grey fibre cement weatherboard cladding, include an external canopy and continue CMAL’s commitment to sustainable buildings with the inclusion of an air source heat pump and underfloor heating to keep passengers warm and dry.

Lochranza Waiting Room, Isle of Arran

CMAL has completed the refurbishment of the waiting room and vessel store at Lochranza, Isle of Arran.

The works have transformed the dated facilities, and provide a modern, bright and sustainable waiting room for Cal Mac customers. Passenger toilets, including an accessible facility, together with a baby changing station will improve the services available at Lochranza.

Externally, the building has been clad in grey fibre cement weatherboard cladding, which will reduce the maintenance requirements, maintaining the building’s appearance for longer. This external finish is in keeping with CMAL’s standard building brand that has already been rolled out at Largs and Fishnish. The inclusion of full height windows and external canopy will allow passenger to enjoy the view whilst keeping warm and dry.

As part of CMAL’s ongoing commitment to sustainable buildings, the waiting room uses an air source heating system to reduce running costs and fuel consumption. This follows on the back of the inclusion of a biomass boiler and PV panels in the new terminal building at Brodick.

Brodick Ferry Terminal

For all the latest on the new ferry terminal, click here.

A new waiting room with views across the Sound of Mull

The construction of the new waiting room at Fishnish is complete and has now been handed back to CalMac. The new waiting room has views over the Sound of Mull, accessible toilets and baby changing facilities. The building has been completed using the new style of CMAL brand which will be rolled out elsewhere round the network during future refurbishments.

Fishnish

Improvements at Largs and Fishnish

We have refurbished the existing building at Largs to provide improved waiting facilities for an extremely busy ticket office.  The altered layout of the main customer space maximises the area for customers and allows for a one-way system that can be used during busy periods.

We are also demolishing and rebuilding the existing waiting room facilities at Fishnish, Isle of Mull. The old building has been demolished and a new waiting room facility is being constructed.  We are providing toilets and accessible toilets with baby changing facilities, and there will also be a take away café, more information on the lease of the cafe will be available in early October. Work started in June and the new building is due for competition at the end of October 2016.

Both buildings are designed in our new brand style which are wood cladded. We will be rolling this design out across the network as and when our buildings need refurbished.

New local produce café at Oban Pier now open

A former waiting room on Oban pier has been opened as a café serving local produce. This idea was borne out of a collaboration between us, social enterprise Food From Argyll co-operative and CalMac Ferries Ltd to find a use for the empty space formally used by Herbridean Ferries.

The café was officially opened at the end of July by endurance cyclist Mark Beaumont.

Mark Beaumont has spent the last decade taking on world records and world firsts in ultra endurance. The Café opening coincided with Day 3 of his ‘Wild about Argyll’ journey – an epic 12-day adventure across Argyll and the Isles – highlighting what the area has to offer for adventure tourists.

The café is Food From Argyll’s first bricks and mortar establishment and is a major step forward in their development, providing a base from which to run their trading arm.

This is a great project and we are really happy to have been involved in the development of the site.  We wish Food From Argyll all the best for the future.

Wemyss Bay

To read more on the development work at Wemyss Bay, please click here.

Brodick Ferry Terminal

Below is a fly-through video of the terminal development plans at Brodick.
To read more on the continuing work at Brodick, please click here.

Colonsay

CMAL has recently completed the internal refurbishment and reconfiguration of the ticket office at Scalasaig Pier, Colonsay. The project included the creation of a new double entrance door, larger waiting area with new seating and a new window to the pier. The refurbishment was completed in early June and was officially opened by Lord Strathconna on the 2 June 2014.

Tiree

The demolition of the former terminal building at Gott Bay Pier, Tiree has been completed. The sea wall has been extended and a new store built on the site. Discussions are on-going with Discover Tiree to complete the project with new signage to welcome all to the island.

Temporary Terminal Building – Tarbert

As part of the Skye Triangle Infrastructure project, the existing terminal building at Tarbert, Harris had to be demolished to make way for the pier redevelopment works.

As a result, a temporary passenger facility was required, however this had to be located away from the pier construction site but still close enough to the pier and linkspan, to minimise disruption to passengers. The CMAL Buildings team worked closely with Cal Mac Ferries Ltd, contractors and consultants to fit and deliver a modular building on to a very awkward triangular site situated adjacent to the existing linkspan. The resultant building will be home for Cal Mac passengers and staff until the pier works have finished and a new terminal building has been constructed on the footprint of the original building.

In the meantime, the CMAL Buildings & Property team are busy working on the design and tender for the new terminal building, construction of which will start before the end of 2021.