1. Lyness Industrial Estate

Industrial land amounting to 11.2 hectares is available adjacent to Scapa Flow, at Lyness on the island of Hoy. The land is owned by Orkney Islands Council and forms one of the Council’s main industrial estates.

The land was formerly one of the British Navy’s most important bases, especially during the two World Wars when Scapa Flow was the principal northern base for the fleet. The Lyness Base supported tens of thousands of servicemen during the war years. Another legacy of the wars is the deep-water Golden Wharf at the edge of the base. Today this provides direct access between the industrial estate and Scapa Flow, and makes the industrial estate a suitable location for large-scale marine-related industry.

On the southern edge of the estate, there is a hydraulic ramp for roll on-roll off vessels. This is the island terminal for the ro-ro service which connects Hoy to the mainland of Orkney. Orkney Ferries, a company owned by Orkney Islands Council, operates a frequent service between Lyness, and the mainland terminal at Houton

The industrial estate has a few tenanted and owner-occupied industrial buildings, both new and old. There is also a museum with many artefacts and much information relating to the war-time history of Lyness and of Scapa Flow.

But the majority of the land remains available for use. With the continuing development of the European Marine Energy Centre at Stromness, and the presence of the established oil transportation terminal at the nearby island of Flotta, Lyness may be an ideal location for support activities related to these industries in particular.

2. The Underground Tanks at Lyness

In the hill behind the Lyness Industrial Estate lie 6 underground oil storage tanks. These tanks, last used in 1976, are of concrete construction and were built for the Navy by Balfour Kilpatrick between 1937 and 1939.

The four principal tanks are approximately 700 ft long, with a width and height estimated to be about 35 feet. Some information is available from one of the people involved in construction of the tanks, although no recent survey has been undertaken. It is said that the construction is very substantial, with concrete up to 3 feet thick. Their total capacity was 100,000 tonnes of bunker oil.

The tanks represent a development opportunity for storage purposes – perhaps more valuable in today’s world for safe storage of data, in electronic or paper form, than for oil storage. Full technical surveys could be undertaken once a specific use is proposed.