Page 52 of The Island in Bramble Bay
‘It’s a shame. It’s a beautiful spot, they would have been amazing once.’
Charlie sat down on the sand and pulled Maggie next to him, enveloping her shoulders in the warmth of his arm.
‘So now that Ben’s the guy for the holiday lodges, are you off the hook?’ He had wondered, ever since Ben had appeared, what that meant for Maggie. The holiday lodge project had supposedly been hers to lead and now it seemed that someone else was doing it.
‘No, I spoke to Rob Tanner, who’s overseeing it, and he said he got Ben in to save him having to make site visits. Otherwise, I’d be backwards and forwards to head office as well and at this time of year, it’s not practical. In the winter when there’s less going on, I’ll probably take on more of the project work again. Anything to stop Ben visiting too often.’ She grinned at Charlie but he felt she was glossing over how she really felt about Ben being there.
Having spent the morning with the guy, Charlie got the distinct impression that he was deliberately messing with Maggie by staying these extra couple of days. Ben had seemed surprised when Charlie started looking at the trees that had been tagged for removal. He didn’t know what Ben had expected but Charlie was determined to be professional. As soon as Ben realised that, he’d tried to flex his muscles by using Latin names for the trees and other things which just made Charlie wonder how Maggie could ever have gone for such a dick. He didn’t want to let on that that’s what he thought because he knew Maggie would worry more about him crossing paths with Ben if there was any hint of animosity. He was planning to keep his feelings to himself and wait for Ben to leave.
‘Unless your lichen turns out to be an endangered species, I can’t see that anything’s going to stop the project. I mean, the planners will know that the Trust has done its homework and will probably be on their side from the start. The only way to stop it is to come up with another solution to the woodland location but we’ve already exhausted the other possibilities on the island.’
‘Maybe it doesn’t have to be on the island,’ said Charlie, his gaze falling onto the houseboats they’d passed. He nudged Maggie and nodded towards the boats.
‘Oh my god, that’s a brilliant idea. People would love that! Imagine staying on the water, plus that would solve the problem of needing to cordon off part of the woods for privacy for the holiday people. It’s the perfect solution.’
‘So who do we need to convince, Ben or someone else?’
‘I don’t know. Probably Rob Tanner’s the best person to approach. Perhaps I should do some research before I mention it. Get some solid ideas together, maybe even try to find out how much it would cost and if it’s going to be feasible to do that in the harbour. Have you seen any houseboats apart from these?’
‘No, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. I could ask the architect who worked on my house to meet us to talk it through. He’s a local guy so should know what’s possible.’
Maggie was fired up with enthusiasm and chatted about the new idea as they walked back to the boat. If the Trust went for it, it would put Maggie in a great position. She could do what she came to Bramble Island to do without feeling compromised between delivering on her mandate and saving the woodland. It seemed like the perfect solution.
49
ALEX PARSONS, THE architect who had transformed Charlie’s house, had agreed to meet Maggie and Charlie at his offices in Poole. Maggie had spent the few days since Charlie’s brainwave looking at options for the kind of accommodation they could offer, ways to connect the boats to the island and anything else she could think of that would make the idea seem more feasible than using the woodland.
It was just two days until Charlie left to go back and finish off the High 5 project in San Francisco, and although she was loath to waste the precious time they had together poring over ideas for the project, she’d noticed that Charlie had become infinitely more relaxed once she was occupied, leaving him free to carry on with his own work.
Maggie was excited again, just as she’d been before she’d arrived on Bramble Island; the anticipation of being involved in something amazing was back, now that it didn’t involve spoiling the beautiful island. It was no wonder they’d brought Ben into the mix; she could see now that she had probably come across as unenthusiastic and possibly unhelpful. Well, that was going to change. After all, it was much better to offer a solution to a problem rather than just moaning about it.
Alex’s offices were modern, very white with lots of glass and Maggie could see how that style translated into the work he’d done on Charlie’s house.
‘Hello Charlie, great to see you again,’ Alex said, shaking hands with Alex and then Maggie as Charlie introduced her.
‘This is my partner Maggie, she’s the park manager on Bramble Island.’
If Alex was surprised that Maggie was with Charlie now, rather than Jessica who had worked closely with him on the design for the house, he didn’t show it.
‘Good to meet you, Maggie. I hear you have some plans for Bramble Island you want to discuss.’
They sat in Alex’s office on comfortable sofas where they had a wonderful view of Poole Harbour; a much busier, more industrial scene than they were used to in Bramble Bay. Maggie explained the current project proposal and then laid out her ideas for taking the lodges onto the water.
‘In principle, it’s absolutely possible. It’s a relatively calm expanse of water with low tidal impact. It would be straightforward enough to go with a method like this,’ he said, pointing to some of Maggie’s research material. ‘A jetty type system with piles so that there is a controlled rise and fall with the tides and minimal movement from waves. It would work, but it will be expensive.’
‘How expensive?’ Maggie asked.
‘I would imagine for the Trust, prohibitively so. Also, the upkeep of something like this is going to be considerably higher than anything they would do on land. The cost of the accommodation itself would be no different. You could effectively build the same thing on the floats as you could in the woods. I could put some proposals together for you outlining the cost of building the structure for eight units so that you can make a like-for-like comparison with the proposal you have now.’
‘That would be brilliant,’ said Maggie and then realised that Alex wasn’t going to give his time for free. ‘I’ll contact the special projects office and see if they’ll sign off on the cost of your time. Could you email me an estimate?’
Charlie put his hand on her leg and said, ‘This is on me for now,’ with a pointed look that meant they’d discuss it later if it needed discussing.
‘Thanks for your time, Alex, we appreciate it,’ he said and they left, heading to a nearby pub on the quay.
‘You can’t pay for Alex, it’s not fair.’
‘C’mon, Maggie, it’s not going to be much and if you ask the Trust to pay they’ll say no because they already have the plan they think is the best one. If you go to them with the backup from Alex, it’s a much stronger position. And besides, I love Bramble Island and if putting some of my money into saving the woods makes the difference, that’s the best thing I could spend it on.’
