Lifeboat inspectors were today expected to give the all-clear for Southend's RNLI branch to work out of a temporary base at the end of the pier.

The move to a portable building on the pier head will mean contractors can now demolish the current boathouse so a new state-of-the-art building can be built.

A series of exercises have put the lifeboat crew through its paces to make sure it can operate from the temporary base.

Royal National Lifeboat Institution inspector Martyn Smith was on hand today at the pier to make sure the move went smoothly and to grant permission for lifeboat activities to operate from the temporary base.

The £500,000 new boathouse includes a glazed tower staircase leading up to a restored sundeck.

Southend Council has earmarked £200,000 to help with the reconstruction of the Grade II-listed sundeck around the top of the lifeboat station.

The new building -- which has been designed with a nautical look - will house a class D lifeboat and an Atlantic 75 which is a bigger vessel than the present Atlantic 21 at the station. Building work could start at Easter and take six months.

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