Invitation to Tender for Cantick Head Road Access Improvements

Description of Works

Cantick Head Lighthouse is accessed via a privately owned, single-track, unsurfaced road located beyond the end of the B9047 public road on South Walls, Orkney. The road provides the only vehicular route to the lighthouse and adjacent residential properties. The site is operational, with mains power and road access.

The road has deteriorated significantly over time due to weathering and lack of maintenance. It has now reached a condition that has been deemed unsuitable for safe vehicle passage. Notably, the Scottish Ambulance Service has recently advised that the road is currently impassable for their vehicles, posing a significant risk to nearby residents.

This project represents a targeted civil works intervention to regulate and resurface the road from the lighthouse to the mound, including the lighthouse dwelling driveway. These works are intended to ensure long-term vehicular access and address a pressing health and safety concern.

The works include surface regulation, overlay with a new asphalt layer, and necessary site mobilisation and clearance. It is a one-off project intended to improve safety, meet legal maintenance obligations, and reduce the risk of emergency vehicle inaccessibility.

The contract will include:

•Mobilisation and establishment of any temporary site facilities required

•Regulation of the existing road surface using imported material where necessary

•Laying of a new 50mm AC14 bituminous surface layer across the access road (width not exceeding 3m)

•Resurfacing of the lighthouse dwelling driveway area

•Final site clearance and reinstatement

Programme

The contractor must submit a works programme, at tender stage with proposed start dates for the sequence of works within this project. It is anticipated that the programme of scheduled works for this project will start on 1 December 2025, with an expected duration of 3 weeks, completing by 19 December 2025. A more detailed programme of work will be agreed between the NLB and the successful contractor.

To view this notice, please click here:

https://nlb.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=996444204