Converting a lifeboat station in Tenby
Transforming a Grade II-listed lifeboat station on a South Wales beach proved challenging
The Grand Designs Tenby lifeboat station, located on a very public site and at the mercy of the elements, presented a set of unique challenges. Kevin McCloud’s bemused face said it all when he asked Tim and Philomena O’Donovan, ‘Why?’
Why would they want to turn a crumbling lifeboat station, under constant attack from the elements, into a home? Tim said they did it for the same reason that people climb Mount Everest – ‘because it’s there,’ adding, only half joking, that it’s the only way to get a mooring in Tenby.
But now they’re having the last laugh – their converted home gives them an unimpeded view across the harbour all to themselves. Plots don’t get much more spectacular than this. They don’t get much more difficult either.

The building is Grade-II listed, so the exterior cladding was replaced like for like. Photo: Chris Tubbs
Slow progress
It took Tim and Philomena seven years just to start building, which involved negotiations with the Crown Estate to buy the freehold for their strip of the beach (a first for the UK, to Tim’s knowledge), and then a competitive bid against others (including a café and a lobster hatchery) to prove they had the wherewithal to convert – and more importantly, maintain – the Grade II-listed building.
‘We can all be daft, but they wanted to make sure the daft person taking this on would have enough resources to see it through,’ says Tim. ‘And as you know, money talks, and when it does, it usually tells the truth.’
Next came the hard part: getting steel, glass and other heavy materials on site, with no road access – just a coastal path and the beach. Most had to be transported across the sand and craned up the 40ft-high pier, which meant regular dashes between the tides. Not a bad thing necessarily – after all, there’s nothing like the immovable deadline of high tide to encourage speedy work.
However, once all the materials had arrived, things became very slow. Trying to fit straight steel and skirting boards into a warped Edwardian building was a challenge and a half. Subsequently the initial nine-month build time for the Tenby lifeboat station conversion doubled to 18 months.

Local residents have been visiting the building since its restoration, and the new RNLI lifeboat station next door has seen its donations from visitors double. Photo: Chris Tubbs