Caister Lifeboat

Caister Lifeboat, an independent lifeboat charity, operates the only all-weather lifeboat apart from the RNLI. In 2023 their new Medina Class vessel replaces the Bernard Matthews II all-weather lifeboat, funded predominately by the Keep The Boat Afloat campaign.

Coxswain, Guy Gibson, and the charity’s senior crew have spent years assessing designs to replace the 17-year-old boat with a larger, more modern vessel. In 2020, Guy approached us to provide an architectural solution to house an upgraded and larger vessel for 2023, in line with his bold plans to make Caister lifeboat a major tourist attraction.

The charities vision is to provide an attractive cafe and external deck to unify the day-to-day functional operations of the building, with viewing platforms, information boards a shop, and other facilities. This brief goes way beyond the need to purely provide an extension, with a long, local association with the project, we’ve found it to be very rewarding in terms of the architectural involvement, working with this superb charity, and being able to contribute to a new phase in the station and the history of Caister-on-sea.