Ardyne Point Yard

Ardyne Point
Brent 'C' and Cormorant 'A'

Ardyne Point, located on Loch Striven to the southwest of Dunoon, was the site of an oil platform construction yard, (oil rig fabrication yard) built by Sir Robert McAlpine. Only three concrete platforms for the North Sea oil industry were constructed there before the yard was forced to close.

The Ardyne Point yard was one of several constructed in the 1970s, to fabricate concrete oil platforms as part of a plan conceived in the oil boom days when Tony Benn was energy minister. Early expectations were that 65 platforms would be built, and yards were established at Hunterston, Loch Kishorn, and the most famous, or infamous, at Portavadie.

Around a dozen concrete blocks have been identified on the seabed off Ardyne Point, at a depth of over 40 metres, having been used as anchoring points, and some examples have been plotted on the map below.

Cormorant Alpha

In June 2005, the Dunoon Observer carried an article regarding a group of Norwegian divers who were working with a freelance journalist to reveal what they contend to be a major inter-governmental cover-up over a narrowly-averted disaster on a huge oil platform built at Ardyne Point in the 1970s.

Decommissioning and scrapping of nuclear submarines

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on September 11, 2003, that Sir Robert McAlpine�s submission for the management of radioactive waste from decommissioned nuclear submarines was one of a number of proposals being considered for this task. At the time, there were some eleven boats in this category, from a fleet of 27. Following consultation between the company and local councillors, and what was described as "an avalanche" of letters of protest from residents in the surrounding area, the proposal was subsequently withdrawn.