Hills goes the extra mile to refurbish Iona Abbey

Iona is a small remote island off the west coast of Scotland reached by ferry from the island of Mull - itself a ferry crossing from the Scottish mainland port of Oban. The medieval Abbey was originally founded in AD 563 by St Columba and today is an important place of worship and pilgrimage for Christians from all over the world.

A permanent Community lives in two-storey residential blocks built into the Abbey cloisters, looking after the accommodation and up to 50 guests who stay on the island.

Since 2002, the Abbey and the tens of thousands of tourists and pilgrims who visit it each year have been the responsibility of Historic Scotland, an Executive Agency that manages over 300 buildings of historic significance around the country. Historic Scotland is investing substantial sums in the Abbey and its supporting infrastructure to modernise the facilities while protecting the original 12th and 15th century structures.

Fire precautions and building services renewed:

The latest phase in this programme has seen Hills' Edinburgh Regional Centre renew or refurbish the fire precautions and building services systems in the 36 bedrooms, kitchens, refectory, library, visitors' shop and associated areas. The main Abbey itself and a nearby visitor centre are scheduled for rewiring at a later date.

The project was especially demanding for three reasons - the remoteness of the island which made access for labour and materials difficult, the historic nature of the building which severely restricted the methods of routing and fixing services and the need to keep the Abbey open to visitors in the summer months which meant all work had to be undertaken in adverse winter weather between September 2002 and March of this year.

Long hours worked:

Because of the distances involved, it was impractical to have operatives travel to and from the island each day, and there was a lack of suitably skilled individuals locally. So a volunteer team of Hills mechanical and electrical operatives led by foreman David Walker stayed on Iona in a rented house for three-week stints. They worked long hours, six days a week, enabling the Community to begin redecoration of the accommodation two weeks ahead of schedule.

Special permits must be obtained to take vehicles onto Iona, so to transport operatives and materials Hills sought permission for a small van and a car to be based on the island. Materials were either ferried to the island by carrier or transferred to the van on Mull by Hills senior project manager Gary Daniel on his fortnightly visits.

The Community moved out of the Abbey during the refurbishment so empty rooms could be used for material storage, and the site team was allowed to use the small ticket cabin at the entrance to the Abbey as a site office because it is equipped with a telephone and fax.

Permission had to be sought before any new cable tray or other containment systems were fixed to the original building fabric, and all cabling required to pass from the plant rooms to the exterior cloisters had to utilise existing apertures.

The electrical equipment:

A new main switchboard with a 630A isolator and MCCB sub-main switchboard with a 400A isolator were shoehorned into the tiny existing switch room. The main and sub-main panels are set up to supply approximately half the building from each board, with the sub-main board intended to supply future rewiring work.

Eight new three phase and two new single phase 100A local distribution boards with surge protection were installed in the accommodation blocks, which were completely rewired and relit using low energy lamps.

Other than the cooking range in the kitchen that is fired by bottled LPG, all other services are electric. The existing three 50kW and one 30kW electric storage water heaters and associated pipework were refurbished to improve space heating for residents and guests. New emergency lighting and fire alarm systems were also installed. These increased the safety of the Community and visitors.

Hills acted as principal contractor and worked closely with Historic Scotland and its M&E consultants TGA of Durham on the 20-week project which, despite the limitations imposed by the nature and location of the site, was completed on budget and on time.