Fit-out progresses at Chiswick RNLI’s new Wandsworth base

New signage for Wandsworth Riverside, Credit: RNLI

New photos show glazed doors going into the visitor centre and screens being fitted in the training room, as work continues on Chiswick RNLI’s future home at Wandsworth Riverside

Fit-out work is visibly progressing at Chiswick RNLI’s new lifeboat station at Wandsworth Riverside, with photos released by the RNLI showing glazed doors going into the new Visitors Centre, a spacious kitchen for crews, and glazed screens being fitted in the training and meeting room.

The Visitors Centre will let RNLI staff teach children, clubs, societies and the public about water safety and the RNLI’s work on the Thames and beyond, with doors folding back onto a deck facing the river.

Crews will also get a large training room and somewhere to relax between 12 hour shifts, a marked improvement on the cramped, shared quarters the station has used for the past 25 years.

Glazed doors and screens being installed, Credit: RNLI

Work is also under way on the existing pontoon, which will get dedicated berths for the duty and standby lifeboats. Wandsworth Pier is three miles downstream from Chiswick but closer to where most incidents happen, so response times should be shorter once crews are operating from there. The new station and pontoon will be tested fully before going live.

Chiswick lifeboat station is the second busiest in the UK and Ireland. Since the RNLI’s search and rescue service on the Thames began in 2002, its crews have attended more than 5,000 incidents and rescued over 2,500 people. The RNLI is funded entirely by public donations.