Volunteers behind the restoration of Queen’s Pier, Ramsey, have had an unexpected setback – after finding out the replacement steel for the next bay is too long.

The new steel for bay six was delivered to the site on Wednesday last week.

Just two days later, and with the tide in their favour, volunteers began the task of swapping out the old iron girders for the new ones, using a telehandler operating from the beach.

It was then, having removed the two outside old girders, that they discovered their steel replacements were up to 40mm too long.

Trust treasurer Graham Curphey said: ‘The old centre girder remains in place. There is no issue with the stability of the pier as the legs still have weight on them as they carry the girders on two bays.

‘It is our intention to strip bay seven and take the old south girder off thus allowing us to fit the new south girder on bay six. We then do the same with the north and centre girders. When our fabricators survey bays seven and eight for the new girders they will make an allowance for the additional 20 to 40mm difference on bay six.

‘This will delay the start of the completion of bay six by a couple of weeks to allow for the tides, but it will not affect the end timings that much. It will not affect our overall timings for the completion of bays seven and eight either. This is frustrating but by no means a game changer.’

The volunteers still anticipate completing the work on bay six by the autumn, depending on weather conditions and tides.

A five-year lease was signed with the government in July 2017 to restore the first three bays. This was completed within four years, with the project quickly becoming a real community effort. The trust is now focused on phase two of the ambitious restoration, which goes up to bay eight.

Bays four and five were completed in time for an event to mark the Coronation.

Graham said: ‘As with everything on a charity project our main constraint is the availability of the necessary finance to purchase the necessary materials. We are confident that with the continued support from the Manx community we will be able to reach the target for the required finance by next spring. We are in the process of obtaining an quote for the cost of the steel for these two bays from our fabricators.’

If all goes to plan, the trust intends to order the steel this summer for delivery early next year. This would give a timescale for completion of phase two by late summer 2024.

Without the continued support of the community on the Isle of Man, and abroad, the project would have stalled, said Graham. Overall restoration is set to cost £4.5m, with each of the 60 bays costing £75,000.

Queen’s Pier closed in 1990 due to safety concerns and increased maintenance costs but the public can now visit the restored section which is open on Sundays until the end of September, between 2pm and 5pm. The pier tram has returned, on loan from Jurby Transport Museum.