Rescue team reaches funding summit for new HQ

Work is due to start at the beginning of next month on a new £574,000 headquarters for Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team.The new build has been made possible thanks to funding from a wide range of sources including a recently approved £70,000 grant from HIE Lochaber.

Area director Charlotte Wright said the enterprise company was delighted to help the Lochaber team, which covers Britain's highest mountain, Ben Nevis and is the busiest mountain rescue team in Scotland with an average of 70 call-outs annually.

Inverness-based William Gray Contractors have been awarded the contract for the building and are expected to have it completed by Spring next year.  Its location at Glen Nevis Business Park, which is owned by the HIE network, is thought to be ideal as it is central for the 40 voluntary team members who come from different areas of Fort William and Lochaber.

The mountain rescue team, set up in the late 1960s by local climbers, currently operate out of a number of cramped rooms at Lochaber Police Station, now unsuitable for their needs.

Team member Iain Macleod has spearheaded the new-build project which has been two years in the making and is considered to be long overdue.

"We really began pushing it forward about 2004, but it had been talked about for a year or two before that. It's not a huge amount of time for this type of project particularly as we have had to raise the money as well," he said.

He revealed the team were still £30,000 short of their target but had decided to go ahead anyway, although they have reluctantly had to abandon plans for a stone facing for the building because of the deficit.

"We've taken on a loan to allow us to make a start. We felt we were getting beaten by price increases and that we just had to make a start on it. We're confident that we'll manage to raise the remaining amount over the next year."

Mr Macleod said the new two-storey building would make life a lot easier for the team and would also enable them to speed up their response time.Accommodation on the ground floor includes a large, four-vehicle garage, and a store room with facilities to clean and dry equipment as well as a locker room, toilet and shower facilities. Also on the ground floor will be a small kitchen and bunk room for the use of both team members and other visiting rescue workers.

The upper level will house an incident briefing room with adjacent communications and control room. An up-to-date information technology system is to be installed which will be able to show information on an overhead projector.

Mr Macleod said: "The new building will bring us a lot of benefits. It means we will be able to keep our vehicles under cover in the one place, thus prolonging their life and costing us less in maintenance and replacements costs.

"Our response times to call-outs should be quicker because members will no longer have to go home first to collect their personal equipment, but can store it in the new locker room."

Donations for the new building came from individuals and public and private bodies and ranged from £5, given by a youngster who heard about the fundraising drive at a school event, to thousands of pounds.Aside from HIE Lochaber, major contributors were Sportscotland which contributed £85,000 and the team itself which provided £100,000.

HIE Lochaber area director Charlotte Wright commented: "Lochaber Mountain Rescue team have worked very hard to raisecapital for this project and are to be commended for bringing funding from both public and private sources together to allow this considerable project to come to forward.

"A significant proportion of tourism in Lochaber is related to outdoor pursuits and the service and experience which the team provides serves to underpin this part of the economy.

"It's important for people engaging in all outdoor pursuits to know that there is adequate emergency services in place should accidents occur. Lochaber is being promoted as the Outdoor Capital of the UK so it is imperative that team members have an up-to-date facility from which to work."

For further information or to make a donation on-line, visit the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team website