To accommodate the initial civil engineering and to take acount of health and safety legislation, there will be no car parking allowed anywhere on the pier with the exception of the disabled spaces.

The first stage of the project will see fendering being removed from part of the lay-by berth and strengthening of the outer harbour pier area to the south east of the pier building.

The ten Portakabins currently on the pier will be stacked into two separate buildings, with the ground floor of the one nearest to the pier's west end being designated for later use as a temporary ticket office for Caledonian MacBrayne.

Harbourmaster Steven Neilson told The Buteman: "Health and safety will be paramount at all times.

"This may mean restricting access for cars dropping and collecting ferry passengers as there will be much less waiting space on the pier.

"However, I would recommend that disabled drivers contact us in advance and we will endeavour to accommodate their needs.

"There will be a fence from the west end of the Portakabins to the ferry berth. The current passenger access from the pier building to the embarkation gangway will be removed, but access to the lift to the ship will be retained."

In the initial stages of the work the Cabbies' Rest will be dismantled and stored in a container in the space presently used as a car park, next to the pontoons at the former 1A berth at the pier's west end.

Workers from the shipyard at Ardmaleish will continue to have access to service smaller units of the Caledonian MacBrayne fleet as they visit the island for overhaul.

A briefing meeting has been scheduled for Monday, December 4 to give more details of the project's timescale, and we hope to provide more information in our December 8 issue.

(This story first appeared in the November 24, 2006 issue of The Buteman.)